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A 

NEW  SYSTEM 

OF 

MYTHOLOGY, 

IN  TWO  VOLUMES; 
GIVING    A   FULL   ACCOUNT    OF 

THE  IDOLATRY  OF  THE  PAGAN  WORLD, 

ILLUSTRATED  BY 

Analytical  Tables,  and  50  elegant  Copperplate  Engravings, 

Representing  more  than  200  subjects, 

In  a  third  volume,  particularly  adapted  to  the  capacity  of 

Junior  Students, 

COMPILED,    DIGESTED,    AND    ARRANGED, 

BY  ROBERT  MAYO,  M.  D. 

Author  of  a  View  of  Ancient  Geography,  and  Kstary. 


PRINTED  FOR  THE  AUTHOR, 
t 

By  T.  S.  Manning,  JV.  W.  corner  of  Sixth  and  Chesnut  ttreets, 


1815. 


DISTRICT  OF  PENNSYLVANIA,  TO  WIT: 

Be  it  Remembered,  That  on  the  tenth  day  of  July,  in  the  for- 
SEAL.  **    tieth  year  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  Ame. 
pica,  A.  D.  1815,  ROBERT  MAYO,  M.  D.,  of  the  said  dis- 
trict,  hath  deposited  in  this  office,  the  title  of  a  Book,  the  right 
whereof  he  claims  as  Author  in  the  words  following,  to  wit: 

"  A  new  System  of  Mythology,  in  two  -volumes;  giving  a  full  ac- 
count of  the  Idolatry  of  the  Pagan  World:  Illustrated  by  Analy- 
tical Tables*,  and  50  elegant  cofifierfilate  engravings,  representing 
more  than  200  subjects,  in  a  third  -volume,  particularly  adapted  to 
the  capacity  of  junior  students:  Compiled,  digested,  and  arranged, 
by  Robert  Mayo,  M.  Z).  Author  of  a  Vieiu  of  Ancient  Geography, 
and  History." 

In  conformity  to  the  Act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  inti- 
tuled, "  An  Act  for  the  encouragement  of  learning,  by  securing  the  co- 
pies of  maps,  charts,  and  books,  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such 
copies,  during  the  times  therein  mentioned." — And  also  to  the  Act,  enti- 
tled "  An  Act  supplementary  to  An  Act,  entitled  '  An  Act  for  the  Encour- 
agement of  Learning,  by  securing  the  Copies  of  Maps,  Charts,  and  Books, 
to  the  Authors  and  Proprietors  of  such  copies  during  the  times  therein 
mentioned,'  and  extending  the  benefits  thereof  to  the  Arts  of  designing, 
engraving,  and  etching  Historical  and  other  Prints." 

D.  CALDWELL, 

Clerk  of  the  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


NEW  SYSTEM 


MYTHOLOGY. 


VOL   I. 


StacK 
Annex 

5 


v.t 


ADVERTISEMENT. 

THE  object  of  the  author  in  undertaking  this  work  originally, 
was  confined  chiefly  to  the  convenience  of  Seminaries.  But  find- 
ing it  impossible  to  dissect  away  the  objectionable,  from  the  inno- 
cent part,  and  sometimes  instructive  moral,  of  the  subject,  so  as 
to  render  its  use  admissible  among  young  ladies  and  gentlemen 
•-without  mutilating,  and  destroying  its  true  character,  and  lay- 
ing a  foundation  for  a  false  conception  of  history,  or  rather  con- 
firming errors  already  industriously  propagated  by  the  partial 
works  or.epitomies  extant  on  the  same  subject — he  resolved  to 
compromise  the  difficulties  on  either  hand,  by  giving  every  thing 
that  is  material  to  a  clear  conception  of  so  interesting  a  science 
to  all  lovers  of  antiquity,  and  then  digesting  the  same  into  a  se- 
ries of  concise  analytical  tables,  especially  explanatory  of  the 
plates,  with  which  they  might  make  a  separate  volume  for  the 
use  of  schools,  so  that  the  work  may  be  complete  in  the  enlarged 
or  epitomized  form. 

We  may  add  that  a  well-digested  elementary  book,  in  any 
science,  is,  in  general,  the  more  precious,  as  it  is  more  rare.  Yet 
•we  see  daily  coming  from  the  press,  new  efforts  of  this  kind,  and 
each  aspiring  to  offer  a  method,  either  more  simple,  or  more  clear, 
or  more  concise,  than  any  which  have  yet  appeared.  Such  pro- 
ductions as  the  latter,  seldom  fail  to  make  assurances,  through 
the  medium  of  a  preface,  of  the  most  decided  and  complete  suc- 
cess; and  their  persuasive  tone  would  unquestionably  secure  our 
confidence,  if  the  abortions  of  their  text  did  not  contradict  to  our 
better  judgment,  what  their  prefatory  egotism  had  so  daringly 
promised.  This  is  decidedly  true  of  the  herd  of  elementary  books 
for  the  instruction  of  youth. — Whether  the  presenr  work  will  de- 
serve a  place  in  the  latter  or  the  former  class,  awaits  the  decision 
of  learned  professors,  from  whose  judgment  there  is  no  appeal. 


vi  Al)  V  F,  HT1  SEMEN  T . 

Of  the  utility  of  Mythology)  as  a  vehicle  of  moral  precept,  we 
will  express  our  high  estimation  in  the  language  of  the  immor- 
tal BACON.  In  his  Critique  upon  that  subject,  he  says:  "  Every 
man,  of  any  learning,  must  readily  allow,  that  this  method  of  in- 
structing is  grave,  sober,  or  exceedingly  useful,  and  sometimes 
necessary  in  the  sciences;  as  it  opens  a  familiar  and  easy  passage 
to  the  human  understanding,  in  all  new  discoveries  that  are  ab- 
struse and  out  of  the  road  of  vulgar  opinions.  Hence,  in  the  first 
ages,  when  such  inventions  and  conclusions  of  the  human  reason 
as  are  now  trite  and  common,  were  new  and  little  known;  all 
things  abounded  with  fables,  parables,  similies,  comparisons,  and 
allusions;  which  were  not  intended  to  conceal,  but  to  inform  and 
teach:  whilst  the  minds  of  men  continued  rude  and  unpractised 
in  matters  of  subtility  and  speculation;  or  even  impatient,  and  in 
a  manner  incapable  of  receiving  such  things  as  did  not  directly 
fall  under  and  strike  the  senses.  For,  as  hieroglyphics  were  in 
use  before  writing,  so  were  parables  in  use  before  arguments." 
******  '  To  conclude,  the  knowledge  of  the  early  ages  was  ei- 
ther great,  or  happy;  great,  if  they  by  design  made  this  use  of 
trope  and  figure;  happy,  if,  whilst  they  had  no  other  views,  they 
afforded  matter  and  occasion  to  such  noble  contemplations.  Let 
either  be  the  case,  our  pains,  perhaps,  will  not  be  misemployed, 
whether  we  illustrate  antiquity  or  things  themselves.' 

By  examining  the  table  of  contents  to  this  volume,  an  estimate 
may  easily  be  made  of  its  comprehensiveness  and  method.  In 
regard  to  the  sequel  of  the  work,  we  will  subjoin  that — The  SE- 
COND VOLUME  will  contain,  in  a  series  of  Chapters  and  Sections, 
a  methodical  and  full  account — 1st,  of  the  Egyptian,  Phenician, 
Carthaginian,  Ethiopian,  Arabian,  Syrian,  Chaldean,  Babylonian, 
Persian,  Sythian,  German,  and  Gallic  deities,  together  with  such 
as  are  only  mentioned  in  Scripture:  2d,  of  the  Greek  and  Roman 
deities — whether  they  be  heavenly,  infernal,  terrestrial,  or  sea- 
deities,  8cc,  &c:  2d,  of  their  demi-gods;  giants;  heroes;  and  he- 
roines: 4th,  of  their  fabulous  nations;  monsters,  and  sacred  ani- 
mals, &c,  Sec. 


ADVERTISEMENT.  vii 

These  Volumes  will  be  accompanied  by  a  Volume  of  Ana- 
lytical Tables,  and  fifty  elegant  Copperplate  Engravings,  repre- 
senting more  than  two  hundred  subjects — such  as  the  altars;  tem- 
ples; instruments  used  in  sacrifice;  the  ceremonies  of  a  sacri- 
fice; the  modes  of  consulting  and  receiving  the  oracles;  and  the 
various  exercises  in  celebrating  the  games:  together  with  the  fi- 
gures of  the  deities;  giants;  heroes;  heroines;  monsters,  &c;  re- 
presenting their  symbols;  metamorphoses;  and  wonderful  ex- 
ploits; whether  purely  fabulous-,  or  partly  historical. 

To  enable  the  enlightened  public  to  decide  upon  the  merits  of 
this  essay  towards  a  System  of  Mythology,  and  to  induce  them  to 
patronise  our  undertaking,  we  have  ventured  to  publish  the  fii*st 
Volume  in  anticipation  of  the  custom  of  soliciting  subscriptions, 
with  the  hope  that  so  much  of  the  demonstration  of  our  plan  will 
make  a  deeper  impression  upon  public  confidence,  than  the  mere 
promise  of  a  prospectus. 

In  the  execution  of  a  plan  suggested  and  designed  purely  to 
facilitate  the  progress  of  junior  students,  and  to  remove  the  diffi- 
culties accumulated  upon  them  by  the  defects  of  the  epilomies 
of  Mythology,  it  was  not  only  deemed  unnecessary — to  make  re- 
references  to  authorities  for  the  facts  stated  in  the  course  of  the 
work,  inasmuch  as  they  will  seldom  have  it  in  their  power,  or 
would  be  at  the  trouble  to  examine  them, — but  that  it  would  even 
be  derogatory  to  the  principal  consideration  continually  kept  in 
view,  such  as  the  preserving  a  strict  continuity,  and  rapid  succes- 
sion of  the  parts,  whether  contained  or  containing,  so  that  the  in- 
evitable result  of  little  more  than  a  single  attentive  reading  might 
be,  a  happy  comparison  of  the  relative  importance  of  the  lesser 
parts  to  each  other,  and  of  the  greater  divisions  to  the  entire  sub- 
ject. But  to  supply  this  omission  as  well  as  possible  in  a  few 
words,  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  learned,  whose  inspection  we 
shall  solicit,  and  to  whom  we  shall  ever  feel  amenable  on  the  score 
of  candour,  will  here  make  a  general  reference  to.  «  The  Mytho- 
logy and  Fables  of  the  Ancients  explained  from  History,  four 
Volumes  8vo,  without  plates,  by  the  Abbe  BANIER;  The  Anti- 


viii  ADVERTISEMENT. 

guides  explained  and  represented  by  Sculfiture,  five  volumes  folio, 
by  BERNARD  DE  MONTFAUCON;  The  Polymetis,  \vith  superb  en- 
gravings, one  volume  folio,  by  the  REV'D.  MR.  SPENCE;  KEN- 
NET'S  Roman  Antiquities,  with  plates,  one  volume  8vo;  Le  Tem- 
ple des  Muses,  with  many  superb  engravings,  one  folio  volume; 
The  Usages,  religious,  civil,  tsfc,  of  the  -Indents,  in  four  volumes, 
\vith  plates,  by  M.  DANDRE  BARDON;  besides  a  variety  of  other 
authors  superfluous  to  mention.  Confiding  in  these  and  other 
profound  interpreters  of  original  authors,  my  object  of  facilitating 
the  classical  studies  of  American  youth,  will  warrant  me  in  ma- 
king a  free  use  of  their  labours. — Whoever  feels  particular  soli- 
citude for  the  improvement  of  American  literature,  let  him  be- 
stow a  portion  of  his  leisure,  to  the  modification  of  the  elements 
of  general  science,  for  the  capacity  ofyoui/is  and  they  will  demon- 
strate to  him  in  his  old  age,  the  wonderful  effects  of  his  fostering 
care  for  their  early  studies,  which  will  infinitely  exceed  any  thing 
that  he  could  have  effected  by  attempts  at  originality  with  an  im- 
perfect education — the  necessary  result  of  the  present  defects  of 
our  juvenile  instruction.  Having  been  deeply  sensible  of  these 
defects,  which  are  chiefly  owing  to  the  want  of  suitable  books  for 
the  tyro,  Is  the  circumstance  that  has  actuated  me  in  my  present 
undertaking.  If  my  success  should  be  equal  to  my  zeal,  my  re- 
ward will  be  accomplished. 


ERRATA. 

Pages — 7,  substitute  tenebra  for  tenebre;  85,  read  the  second  line  first 
115,  substitute  Hymenxus  for  Hymeniusf  116,  Pavor  for  Pravor;  180,  Ur- 
ceolus  for  Urcolus;  135,  first  line,  from  for  or;  137,  Kidron  for  Cedron; 
178,  Censer  for  Cencer,  and  Thuribulum  for  Thurebulam;  227,  Paphos  for 
Paphas;  239,  teternus  for  <eturnus;  253,  Pegomancy  for  Pigomancy;  327, 
Panathenxa  for  Pauathenxa;  350,  Chortebus  for  Conebusj  370,  Elsusinian 
foi*  Elusinian. 


RECOMMENDATIONS. 

Philadelphia,  July  27th,  1815. 
Sir, 

I  HAVE  perused,  with  much  satisfaction  and  improvement,  your  1st 
volume  of  Mythology,  and  really  consider  it  an  interesting  and  useful 
work.  Your  arrangement  of  the^subject-matter  is  very  judicious,  and  the 
authorities  you  re'fer  to  are  of  the  first  character.  Should  the  subsequent 
volumes  be  executed  with  equal  success,  they  will  collectively  constitute 
a  highly  valuable  acquisition  for  the  accomplished  Scholar,  as  well  as  for  the 
junior  Student. 

With  great  respect,  I  am,  your  most  humble  servant, 

H.  Mayo,  M.  D.  JAS.  ABERCEOMBIE,  D.  D. 

Sear  Sir, 

WITH  much  satisfaction  I  have  perused  the  first  volume  of  your  "  New 
System  of  Mythology."  I  confess  I  did  not  anticipate  much  novelty  on  a 
subject  that  has  already  employed  the  talents  of  so  many  men  well  quali- 
fied for  the  task;  but  in  this  I  have  been  disappointed.  I  am  not  only  par- 
ticularly pleased  with  the  variety,  of  the  matter,  but  also  highly  commend 
your  success  in  the  instructing  and  lucid  order  you  have  adopted.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  your  performance — exhibiting  the  ingenious  absurdities  of  a 
false  Mythology,  and  commending  to  the  reader  the  beautiful  and  pure 
principles  of  the  true  religion — will  be  perused  by  many  with  interest  and 
pleasure.  I  wish  you  success  in  the  circulation  of  this  valuable  production 
of  your  useful  pen. 

W.  STAUGHTON,  D.  D.- 
Dr.  Mayo.  Philadelphia,  July  21,  1815. 

Sir, 

Having  examined  the  first  volume  of  your  "  System  of  Mythology,"  I 
am  free  in  giving  it  as  my  opinion  that  it  will  be  particularly  useful  to 
our  Colleges  and  Schools.  I  am  yours,  &c. 

FREDEIUC  BEASLEY,  D.  D. 
Dr.  Mcyo.  University  of  Pennsylvania.  July  2Qth,  181 J. 

Dear  Sir, 

WITHOUT  entering  into  a  formal  anajysis  of  the  valuable  qualities  of 
your  "  New  System  of  Mythology,"  allow  me  to  thank  you  for  the  plea- 
sure  and  instruction  1  have  derived  from  a  perusal  of  the  first  volume. 

Whether  regard  be  had  to  its  matter  or  manner,  the  subjects  it^n>- 
braces  or  its  mode  of  illustrating  them,  it  appears  to  be  a  work  of  real 
merit;  ornamental  to  the  classical  scholar,  useful  to  every  one,  aiid  essen- 
tial to  all  who  are  ambitious  of  a  knowledge  of  general  history. — To  some 
of  the  most  interesting  portions  of  the  history  of  ancient  nations,  as  well 
as  of  several  modern  ones,  an  able  and  correct  system  of  Mythology  might 
be  emphatically  denominated  the  master  key.  Such  a  key  I  feel  persuaded 
your  countrymen  will  not  fail  to  find  in  that  of  which  you  have  commenced 
the  publication. 


RECOMMENDATIONS. 

Thus  far  of  what  you  have  published— Respecting  that  portion  of  your 
work  which  is  yet  to  appear,  it  may  be  regarded  as  premature  in  me  to 
speak.  Judging,  however,  from  the  specimen  in  my  possession,  candour 
and  reason  unite  in  obliging  me  to  augur  well  of  it. 

The  third  volume,  in  particular,  if  executed  with  equal  ability  with  that 
which  has  just  been  printed,  promises  to  be  a  production  of  no  common  in- 
terest.  While  the  first  and  second  volumes  will  be  calculated  to  communi- 
cate information  on  a  broader  scale,  and  in  a  more  detailed  form,  the 
third,  being  an  analytical  epitome  of  the  entire  system,  and  addressed  to 
the  eye,  the  best  of  the  senses,  will,  if  I  mistake  not,  be  well  adapted  to 
the  use  of  schools. 

On  the  whole,  enough  has  already  appeared  to  encourage  the  belief, 
that  when  complete,  the  work  will  be  an  addition  to  American  literature, 
honorable  to  yourself,  and  useful  to  your  country.  May  it  be  welcomed 
under  a  patronage  correspondingly  liberal. 

I  am,  truly  and  respectfully,  your  obedient  and  very  humble  servant, 

CH.  CALDWELL,  M.  D. 
Robert  Mayo,  M.  D.  Philadelphia,  July  27,  1815. 


I  have  examined  the  first  volume  of  your  "  New  System  of  Mytholo- 
gy."— Without  arrogating  to  myself  the  right  of  deciding  on  its  merits, 
a  task  which  I  willingly  leave  to  abler  critics,  I  may  be  permitted  to  ex- 
press my  high  opinion  of  the  usefulness  of  such  a  work;  and  to  add  my 
belief,  that  competent  judges  will  be  less  backward  than  myself  in  bestow- 
ing their  commendations  on  it.  The  industry  and  talents  of  the  author  are 
the  grounds  of  this  belief. 

Very  respectfully,  I  am,  sir,  your  humble  servant, 

J.  S.  DORSEY,  M.  D. 

Dr.  Mayo.  Philadelphia,  July  20th,  1815. 

Dear  Sir, 

The  studies  which  engross  my  attention  are  so  entirely  foreign  to  the 
subject  of  the  work  which  you  are  now  publishing,  that  I  should  think  it 
inexcusable  arrogance  in  me  to  speak  minutely  on  its  merits.  It  gives 
me  pleasure,  however,  to  remark,  that  the  work  is  arranged  with  admi- 
rable method,  written  with  great  perspicuity,  and  filled  with  interesting- 
matter.  Believe  me,  with  the  greatest  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 

R.  M.  PATTERSON,  M.  D. 
Dr.  R.  Mayo.  University  of  Pennsylvania.  July  17th,  1815- 

Dear  Sir, 

I  HAVE  read  your  work  with  as  much  attention  as  my  leisure. would 
admit,  and  experience  very  great  pleasure  in  adding  my  suffrage  to  the 
distinguished  testimonials  which  you  have  received  to  its  merits. 
I  am,  dear  sir,  very  respectfully,  yours,  &c. 

N.  CHAPMAN,  M.  D. 
R.  Mayo,  M.  D.  Philadelphia,  July  28th,  1815- 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

OF    THE    SENTIMENTS    OF     THE     ANCIENTS,     ABOITT    THE     ORIGIN    OF 
THE    WORLD,    AND    OF    THE    GODS. 

page 

1*;,  T/ie  Cosmogony  and  Theogony  of  the  Chaldeans.  1 

THE  antiquity  of  the  Chaldeans; — their  historians; — their  Cosmo- 
gony and  Theogony;  what  they  say  respecting  the  deluge — Re- 
flection on  the  above. 

2d,  The  Cosmogony  and  Theogony  of  the  Phenicians.  8 

SANCHONTATHOX — the  authenticity  of  his  fragment, — its  division 
into  three  parts,  viz, — 1st,  of  the  origin  of  the  world;  2d,  of  the 
ten  generations  before  the  deluge;  3d,  of  those  who  lived  after 
the  deluge.  PHILO'S  remarks  upon  this  fragment: — additional 
reflections  upon  the  same  fragment. 

od,  The  Cosmogony  and  Tkeogony  of  the  Egyptians.  18 

THOT — his  Cosmogony  and  Theogony  the  most  ancient; — explain- 
ed by  DIOBORUS  SICULUS.  Reflections  upon  the  above. 

4th,  The  Theogony  of  the  Jltlantid* .  22 

THE  Atlantidte  claim  the  birth-place  of  the  Gods.  Uranus  and  Titaea 
deified; — their  progeny  the  Titans,  &c.  Rhaea,  'Hyperion,  and  their 
progeny  persecuted  by  the  Titans — and  are  deified.  The  Em- 
pire of  Uranus  divided  among  the  Titans; — their  progeny.  Re- 
flections on  the  above  Theogony. 

5th,  The  Cosmogony  and  Theogony  of  the  Greeks.  25 

ERRORS  of  the  Greeks  as  to  the  sources  of  their  Theogony.  The 
Cosmogony  and  Theogony  of  ORPHEUS.  Remarks  on  the  same. 
The  Theogony  of  HESIOD— 1st,  The  line  of  Chaos.  3d,  The  line 
of  Terra.  3d,  The  line  of  JVbx.  4th,  The  line  of  Pontus.  5th, 
The  line  of  Tethys.  6th,  The  line  of  Thea.  7th,  The  line  of 
Creius.  8th,  The  line  of  Phcebe.  9th,  The  line' of  Rheal  10th, 
The  line  of  Japetus.  (Of  the  war  of  Jupiter  and  the  Titans  at 
Mount  Olympus.)  llth,  The  line  of  Jupiter.  12th,  The  line  of 
Neptune.  13th,  Gods  descended  of  mortal  men  and  Goddesses. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 


page 

14th,  The  Demons  and  Genii.  The  Theogony  of  PLATO'S  dia- 
logue, The  Banquet.  The  Theogony  of  PBOPANIDES  the  precep- 
tor of  HOMER.  The  Theology,  copied  as  it  were,  by  HOMER. 
The  Cosmogony  of  OVID«  General  reflections  upon  the  fore- 
going Cosmogonies  and  Theogonies.  HESIOD  and  MOSES'  Cos- 
mogony compared.  A  trait  of  resemblance  between  that  of  OVID 
and  MOSES.  These  Cosmogonies  and  Theogonies  are  but  dis- 
tortions of  ancient  traditions:  Additional  example  in  proof  of 
the  same.  Reflections  upon  the  latter  example.  Comparison  of 
the  Greeks  and  Romans,  in  systematising  these  fables. 

6th,  The  Theogony  and  Cosmogony  of  the  Indians.  42 

THE  Theogony  of  the  Brahmin  priests.  The  Cosmogony  of  the 
Brahmin  priests. 

7th,  The  Theogony  of  the  Chinese.  44 

IN  the  first  ages,  the  Chinese  worship  was  not  corrupted  by  Idola- 
try: nor  had  they  either  Cosmogony  or  Theogony:  but  in  process 
of  time,  LAO-KIUN  introduced  the  Idolatrous  sect  of  Taose;  in- 
vented a  Cosmogony;  and  with  his  proselytes,  gave  rise  to  a  sort 
of  Theogony.  Another  sect  founded  by  the  emperor  Mingti, 
called  Jlo-Chang. 

8th,  The  Cosmogony  and  other  fables  of  the  aboriginal  Americans.  50 
LAFFITEAU'S  account  of  the  Cosmogony  of  the  American  Indians. 
Remarks  upon  that  Cosmogony.  Their  Fables  and  Idols.  Their 
superstitions,  religious  rites,  and  persuasions;  particularly  in  re- 
gard to  fire.  Their  human  sacrifices; — a  parallel: — continued  in 
regard  to  other  savage  nations. 

9th,  Of  the  Pagan  Theology  in  general,  and  that  of  the  Poets  in 

particular.  57 

ITS  absurdity,  and  the  arguments  of  the  Fathers,  compel  the  Phi- 
losophers to  explain  it  by  allegory.  The  Pagan  Theology  is  dis- 
tinguished by  VARRO  into  three  parts.  Theology  of  the  Poets; — 
its  partisans  make  a  parallel  of  it  with  the  Sacred  Writ.  Why 
we  should  entertain  a  very  different  sentiment  of  their  Theology; 
— confirmed  by  deductions  from  HOMER'S  account  of  the  Trojan 
•war;  and  from  that  of  JEneas  and  Turnus  in  Italy;  also  from  num- 
berless other  examples,  in  which  the  Poets  abounded.  Reflec- 
tions upon  the  Theology  of  the  Poets. 


CONTENTS. 


HISTORY    OF    IDOLATRY. 


MYTHOLOGY. 

CHAPTER  I. 

HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY. 

SECTION   I. 

page 

ITS  ORIGIN.  69 

THE  worship  of  the  children  of  God  pure — that  of  the  children  of 
Men  idolatrous.  Idolatry,  whether  it  commenced  before  the  de- 
luge. Idolatry,  how  early  restored  after  the  deluge,  and  where. 
From  Egypt  Idolatry  propagated  itself  through  Phenicia  to  other 
countries. 

SECTION  II. 
ITS  FIRST  OBJECTS.  73 

THE  opinion  of  Vossius,  viz, — 1st,  Two  Principles  Good  and  Evil: 
these  are  enveloped  in  the  fable  of  Osiris  and  Typhon  of  Egypt; 
which  are  copied  in  the  fables  of  the  Phsenicians,  and  Greeks: 
how  treated  by  ancient  and  modern  philosophers:  2d,  Spirits  or 
Genii — their  worship:  3d,  Souls  departed,- — their  worship,  the 
effect  of  two  causes-^/frs*,  Gratitude;  second,  Fear.  M.  LE 
CLERC'S  opinion  differs,  in  favour  of  Jlngels.  The  Sun  and  Moon, 
in  reality,  were  the  first  objects  t>f  Idolatry,  according  to  the 
opinion  of  MAIMONIDES;  and  according  to  the  opinion  of  EUSE- 
BIUS;  which  is  confirmed  by  profanQ  authors:  also,  inferable  from 
its  prohibition  by  MOSES;  and  from  the  position  of  the  Pagan 
temples;  and  to  them  MACROBIUS  reduces  all  the  Pagan  Deities. 
Their  worship  called  Sabism,  the  most  universal,  and  of  the 
longest  duration. 

. ' '  -!      --•    ,  -     V . ' 

SECTION   III. 
ITS  PROGRESS  TO  SYSTEM.  84 

General  remarks.  The  causes  of  Mythological  Fables,  viz. — 1st,  Igno- 
rance in  Physics;  2d,  The  Scripture,  &c,  misunderstood;  3d, 
Ignorance  of  Chronology  and  ancient  History;  4th,  Ignorance  of 
languages;  5th,  The  Plurality,  or  Unity  of  Names;  6th,  The  mar- 
vellous relations  of  travellers;  7th,  False  eloquence  of  eulogizing 
Orators;  8th,  Poetic  Fictions  and  exaggerations;  9th,  The  Paint- 
ers and  Statuaries,  &c;  10th,  Pretended  interviews  with  the 
Gods,  llth,  A  desire  to  be  reckoned  of  Divine  origin. — System  of 


CONTENTS. 


page 

Deities,\iz, — 1st,  The  adoration  of  physical  objects, — theirjtutelar 
Deities;  2d.  The  adoration  of  many  of  the  human  species — their 
tutelar  Deities;  3d,  The  adoration  of  brute  animals — their  tutelar 
Deities;  4th,  The  adoration  of  reptiles,  insects,  and  stones;  5th, 
The  Deities  assigned  to  the  Passions  and  Affections;  6th,  The 
tutelar  Deities  for  particular  professions,  and  other  occasions; 
7th,  The  Deities  that  received  peculiar  honour  in  particular  pla- 
ces. 8th,  Of  the  Demi-Gods,  Heroes,  Genii,  and  Junones. — A 
few  individual  exceptions  from  Pagan  corruption. 


SECTION  IV. 

ITS  DECLINE.  122 

Admiration  at  Pagan  extravagance; — which  was  kept  in  vogue 
chiefly  by  habit  and  the  convenience  of  it; — and  which  Divine  in- 
terposition alone  could  eradicate. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY. 

SECTION  I. 

THE  STATUES  OF  ITS  DEITIES.  126 

THE  Pagan  Gods — how  represented  through  several  periods,  &c, 
viz, — 1st,  By  shapeless  stones,  pillars,  trunks  of  trees,  &c;  2d,  By 
the  figure  of  an  Ox  or  Calf,  and  statues  called  Termes;  3d,  By 
statues  of  perfect  symmetry.  The  materials  of  statuary  were 
earth,  -wood,  stone,  marble,  ivory,  metals,  iaax,  &.c.  The  sizes  of 
statues  varied  from  the  Pigmy  to  the  Colossus.  The  statues  were 
set  up  in  temples,  in  private  houses,  and  in  the/eWs.  Of  the  usa- 
ges in  regard  to  the  expression,  and  the  symbols,  of  the  Statues. 

SECTION    II. 

77*5  ALTARS.  132 

THE  Etymology  of  the  word  Altar.  The  antiquity,  matter,  and 
form,  of  the  Altars;  their  height,  and  the  places  where  they 
were  erected. 


CONTENTS. 


SECTION    III 

page 
ITS  SJCRED  GROVES.  134 

THE  antiquity  of  Sacred  Groves; — their  universality; — a  refuge  for 
criminals,  8tc;  the  Jews  were  interdicted  their  use,  by  MOSES. 
They  became  greatly  frequented;  and  were  applied  to  religious 
festivity.  To  fell  them  was  the  greatest  sacrilege. 

SECTION   IV. 

ITS  TEMPLES.  137 

THE  several  terms  which  design  a  Temple.  The  antiquity  of  Tem- 
ples;— the  Tabernacle  probably  their  model.  From  small  chapels, 
Temples  became  examples  of  magnificence  and  wonder  in  Art. 
The  parts  of  the  Temples,  and  their  ornaments.  The  ceremony 
of  founding  a  Temple  among  the  Romans.  The  places  prescribed 
for  some  Temples  to  be  erected.  The  veneration  of  the  Idolaters 
for  their  Temples. 

1st,  The  Temple  of  Belus.  143 

THIS  Temple  was  originally  the  Tower  of  Babel;— its  plan,  &c.  It 
was  embellished  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  destroyed  by  Xerxes. 

2rf,  Temple  of  Vulcan  at  Memphis;  vrith  other  Egyptian  Temples.        144 
THE  antiquity  of  the  Temple  of  Vulcan; — by  whom  founded  and 
embellished.  Other  Egyptian  Temples,  with  one  of  a  single  stone. 

3d,  Three  Temples  of  Diana  at  Ephesus.  147 

1st,  THE  first  Temple  of  Diana— by  whom  established,  and  what 
it  was.  2d,  The  second,  the  famous  Ephesian  Temple — an  ac- 
count of  it.  3d,  The  third  Ephesian  Temple  was  but  little  infe- 
rior to  the  last  mentioned. 

4th,  Temple  of  Jupiter  Olympius.  149 

DESCRIPTION  of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Olympius  The  Statue  and 
Throne  it  contained  of  that  God. 

5th,  Temple  of  dpollo  at  Delphos.  152 

THIS  Temple  was  built  five  times — an  account  of  each. 

6th,  The  Pantheon  at  Rome.  ^  154 

THE  age  of  the  Pantheon  is  uncertain; — it  yet  subsists  in  All-Saints: 
— Of  its  foundation  and  its  ornaments. 


CONTENTS. 


MACHINERY    OF     IDOLATRY. 


page 

7th,  Of  the  nature  of  Sanctuaries,  or  Jlsyla.  156 

ORIGIN  of  the  right  of  Asylum,  or  Sanctuary: — for  what  purpose 
it  was  instituted,  and  to  what  places  or  structures  it  attached. 
The  right  was  not  always  inviolable.  It  was  abolished  by  Tibe- 
rius for  its  abuses. 

SECTION    V. 

ITS  VICTIMS  OR  SACRIFICES.  159 

THE  simplicity  of  Sacrifices  in  general,  in  the  early  ages.  At  length, 
bloody  Sacrifices  became  general;  but  the  time  of  their  introduc- 
tion is  uncertain,  excepting  Abel's  offering:  nevertheless,  the 
former  simplicity  of  sacrifice  was  not  forgotten.  At  last,  human 
sacrifices  were  offered  up;  which  originated  from  Abraham's  sa- 
crifice being  misunderstood:  but  several  prodigies  caused  them  to 
be  abolished.  Of  public  and  private  sacrifices;  and  the  choice  of 
victims,  in  which  something  was  peculiar  to  each  Deity.  Each  ' 
Deity  had  also  their  consecrated  birds,  animals,  fishes,  and  plants. 
— The  ceremonials  of  a  Sacrifice.  Purification  of  the  Priests, 
preparatory  to  a  sacrifice.  The  Sacrifice  called  the  Hecatomb^ 
offered  on  public  emergencies.  The  Sacrifice  of  Agroterx,  in 
honour  of  Diana.  The  Sacrifice  called  Taurobolium,  in  honour  of 
Cybele,- — on  what  occasions  offered, — and  what  kind  of  victims: 
the  form  of  prayer,  &c,  it  required. 

SECTION    VI. 

INSTRUMENTS  USED  IN  SACRIFICE,  &c.  177 

THE  Acerra.  The  Cencer.  The  Cochlearia.  Praeferriculum.  The 
Simpulum.  The  Patera.  Malleus  and  Ax.  The  Secespita.  The 

.  Dolabra.  The  Lingula.  The  Enclabris.  The  Augural  Staff.  The 
Discus.  The  Olla.  The  Candelabrum.  The  Trumpet.  The  Dou- 
ble Flute.  The  Uscolus.  The  Tripod— of  three  sorts. 

SECTION    VII. 

THE  PRIESTS  AND  OTHER  MINISTERS  OF  SACRIFICES.  181 

WHO  exercised  the  Priesthood  in  early  times.  Defects  of  person, 
&c,  excluded  from  that  office.  The  Greek  Hierarchy.  The 
Roman  Hierarchy;  of  which  the  Pontiffs  were  the  first  in  rank; 
next  to  whom  were  Flamines — who  were  Majores  and  Minores; 
lastly,  the  Epulones,— and  those  who  kept  the  Sibylline  Books. 
The  Priests  common  to  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  viz, — 1st,  those 
of  Cybele;  2d,  The  Priests  of  Mithras;  3d,  The  Priests  and 
Priestesses  of  Bacchus. 


CONTENTS. 


SECTION   VIII. 
THE  VESTAL  VIRGINS. 

page 
193 

THE  object,  origin,  qualifications,  and  service,  of  these  Priestesses: 
the  punishment  for  neglect  of  the  sacred  Fire,  Palladium,  &c,  un- 
der their  care:  their  privileges:  their  restrictions;  their  dress  and 
luxury:  by  whom  the  order  was  abolished. 

SECTION    IX. 

THE  SIBYLS.  196 

THE  subject  considered  under  five  heads,  viz, — 1st,  Whether  there 
really  were  Sibyls;  2d,  How  many  there  were  of  them;  3d,  Why 
they  were  supposed  to  be  gifted  with  prophecy;  4th,  The  long 
life  attributed  to  them;  two  reflections  thereupon;  5th,  Lastly, 
whether  they  were  reputed  Divinities.  The  Tomb  and  Epitaph 
of  the  Erythrxan  Sibyl. 


CHAPTER  III. 

SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY. 

SECTION   I. 
OF  ORACLES  JJV  GENERAL.  207 

ORACLES,  the  language  or  will  of  the  Gods,  are  public  and  private. 
Oracles  were  as  universal  as  Idolatry.  Were  they  mere  impos- 
tures? and  did  they  cease  at  the  coming  of  Christ?  Of  the  time 
and  manner  of  consulting  the  Oracles. 

1st,  The  Oracle  of  Do  dona.  211 

THE  origin  of  this  Oracle,  and  that  of  Jupiter  Hammon.  How  the 
Oracle  of  Dodona  was  given. 

2d,  The  Oracle  of  Jupiter  Hammon.  213 

THE  antiquity  of  this  Oracle, — character  of  its  Priests.  How  the 
responses  were  given. 

3d,  The  Oracle  of  Apollo  at  Heliopolis.  215 

THIS  Oracle,  and  that  of  Jupiter  Phifais,  were  given  as  that  of 
Hammon. 


CONTENTS. 


SUPRSTITIONS    OF    IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

page 

4th,  The  Oracle  of  Apollo  at  Delphos.  215 

THE  origin  of  this  Oracle.  Several  Gods  had  this  Oracle  succes- 
sively: which  was  transferred  voluntarily,  or  by  force.  This 
Oracle  became  highly  celebrated.  How  the  Inspiration  was  ac- 
quired; by  whom  delivered;  and  when.  The  ceremony  of  receiv- 
ing the  responses.  Other  ministers  of  the  Oracle  of  Jlpollo. 

5th,  The  Oracle  of  Trophonius  in  Lebadca.  221 

THE  origin  of  this  Oracle.     The  manner  of  consulting  this  Oracle,  &c. 

6th,  Other  Oracles  of  less  note.  225 

OTHER  Oracles  of  Jlpollo.  Other  Oracjes  of  Jupiter.  Other  Oracles 
of  several  other  Deities.  The  Oracles  of  Demi-Gods,  Heroes,  and 
Emperors.  The  Oracles  of  the  Fountains.  Oracles  were  owing 
partly  to  the  instigation  of  the  Devil,  and  chiefly  to  the  imposture 
of  the  Priests.  They  were  of  all  dates;  old  ones  declining,  and 
new  ones  coming  in  vogue. 

7th,  The-  Oracles  of  the  Sibyls.  232 

How  the  Cum/eon  Sibyl  delivered  her  Oracles.  The  Sibylline  Verses; 
— how  they  were  collected;  and  how  they  were  destroyed.  The 
Romans  repaired  their  loss  by  a  second  collection.  To  whose  care 
it  was  entrusted,  and  on  what  occasions  consulted.  Its  fate  is 
uncertain;  but  it  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  a  Third,  the  pro- 
duct of  pious  fraud;  of  which  we  give  several  remarkable  predic- 
tions;— Reflections  on  the  same.  These  three  collections  of  the 
Sibylline  Verses,  in  a  manner  distinguished.  The  second  collection 
is  burnt,  and  their  veneration  terminated.  f 

8th,  Various  ways  of  delivering  Oracles;  -with  several  remarkable 

Responses.  242 

MODES  of  delivering  Oracles  afore-mentioned.  Other  modes  of 
delivering  Oracles,  Viz, — 1st,  From  the  hollow  of  the  Statue;  2d, 
By  letters  under  a  seal;  3d,  The  names  and  number  only  of  the 
suppliants  required;  4th,  The  response  is  communicated  by  a 
dream.  5th,  By  the  first  words  heard  after  interrogating  the 
statue  of  the  God;  6th,  Oracular  responses  were  given  by  lots; 
lastly,  Many  were  given  by  equivocal  phrases.— Extraordinary 
responses,  viz. — 1st,  That  of  the  priestess  of  Delphos  to  Croesus; 
2d,  That  of  the  Oracle  of  Mopsus,  to  the  governor  of  Cilicia. 
3d,  That  of  the  priestess  of  Dodona  to  the  Boeotians. — Remarks 
on  the  decline  of  the  Oracle  of  Jpollo. 


CONTENTS. 


SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY. 


SECTION  II. 

page 
OF  DIVLVJTIG.V.  250 

GENERAL  reflections  on  the  subject  of  Divination.  Numerous  infe- 
rior modes  of  Divination. 

1st,  Divination  of  the  four  Elements.  253 

1st,  The  divination  of  water,  called  ffydromancy.  2d,  The  divina- 
tion of  fire,  called  Pyromancy.  3d,  The  divination  of  earth,  called 
Geromancy.  4th,  The  divination  of  air,  called  Jleromancy. 

2d,  The  Auguria.  or  Jluapicia. 

THE  nature  of  this  sort  of  Divination, — its  antiquity.  This  art  was 
entrusted  to  a  college  of  Augurs  educated  in  Etruria.  Of  the 
election  of  the  Augurs;  and  the  importance  of  their  office.  The 
time,  place  and  manner,  of  taking  the  Auguries,  and  from  what 
signs,  viz. — 1st,  From  the  flight  of  birds;  2d,  From  the  feeding  of 
the  sacred  Chickens.  3d,  From  ordinary  signs  in  the  air,  as 
thunder,  lightning,  winds.  4th,  From  Prodigies,  viz,— -first,  such 
as  are  supernatural,  (if  we  allow  of  their  existence);  second,  from 
extraordinary  signs  in  the  air,  as  meteors,  &c.  Remarks  upon 
this  latter  kind  of  Prodigies.  Remarks  upon  the  former^ class  of 
Prodigies.— The  public  consternation  occasioned  by  Prodigies. 

3d,  The  Aruspicia.  266 

THE  office  and  the  institution,  generally,  of  the  Aruspices.  The 
manner  in  which  the  Aruspices  drew  their  presages. 

4<A,  Of  Private  Presages.  269 

SEVERAL  kinds  of  these  presages,  viz, — 1st,  Casual  words;  2d, 
Startings  in  parts  of  the  body;  3d,  Tingling  of  the  ear;  4th, 
Sneezings;  5th,  Accidental  falls,  and  the  like;  6th,  Certain  acci- 
dental meetings,  of  persons  or  animals;  7tb,  Names,  lucky  or  un- 
lucky. Other  presages  not  mentioned.  How  the  bad  Omens 
were  avoided. 

SECTION    III. 

OF  MAGIC.  272 

DE  FI  X  i  T  i  o  x  of  Magic; — its  criminal  excesses; — its  original  attribu- 
ted to  ZOROASTER.  Several  kinds  of  Magic,  viz, — 1st,  Natural 
Magic.  2d,  Mathematical  Magic,  or  Astrology; — its  origin  and 
propagation; — its  leading-  principles.  3d,  and  4th,  Thtfrgia  and 
Goethia, — their  difference;  \vhatceremoniestheyhad  in  common: 


CONTENTS. 


SUPERSTITIONS    OF    IDOL.ATHY.  CHAP.    III. 


page 

' — the  trials  of  initiation  to  the  Thurgia  Magic;  the  miraculous 
feats  of  Heroes  attributed  to  this  art;  its  connexion  with  Pagan 
Theology.  5th,  Necromancy  or  Evocation  of  the  Manes; — how 
it  originated,  with  examples  of  the  Art:  stricture  on  the  phrase, 
to  call  up  souls. 

SECTION   IV. 

OF  EXPIATIONS.  283 

EXPIATION  defined,  and  its  objects  stated.  Several  sorts  of  Expia- 
tions, which  are  more  or  less  solemn,  viz, — 1st,  Expiation  for 
Prodigies.  2d,  Expiation  for  Homicide.  3d,  Expiation  for  Cities 
and  other  places.  4th,  Expiation  for  Armies.  Other  public  Expia- 
tions to  be  spoken  of  elsewhere.  Private  Expiations.  OATHS,  as 
a  sort  of  Expiations  examined,— -first,  As  to  their  origin;  second, 
By  what  Gods  they  swore;  third,  The  ceremonies  of  an  Oath; 
fourth,  The  obligation  of  an  Oath;  fifth,  On  what  occasions  were 
Oaths  used;  lastly,  How  was  perjury  regarded. 

SECTION    V. 

OF  PUBLIC  SUPPLICATIONS.  291 

DEFINITION. — Private  Supplications  slightly  noticed.  Public  Sup- 
plications— on  what  occasions  observed. 

1st,  The  Lectisterma.  291 

THE  ceremonies  of  the  Lectisternium:  it  was  in  use  both  among  the 
Greeks  and  the  Romans:  its  celebration,  and  its  immunities; — by 
whom  appointed. 

2d,  The  Evocations.  '    294 

THREE  sorts  of  Evocation,  viz, — 1st,  To  call  up  the  Manes,  (which 
belongs  to  Magic.) — 2d,  A  prayer  in  making  Sieges.  3d,  This  was 
used  to  call  up  the  Gods,  to  which  they  connected  the  ceremony 
of  taking  leave  of  them. 

3d,  The  forms  of  Devoting. 
PUBLIC  and  private  Devotings.     Of  votive  members. 

4th,  Ceremonies  used  at  the  founding  of  Cities,  Temples,  &fc. 
THESE  ceremonies  commenced,  probably  in  Etruria. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.    III. 


SECTION    VI. 

page 
OF  FESTIVALS.  298 

ON  what  occasions  were  Festivals  instituted.  Whence  they  derive 
their  names.  The  principal  of  them  given  in  the  three  following 
Articles. 

1st,  Egyptian  Festivals.  299 

THE  character  of  the  Egyptian  Festivals.  The  Festival  of  Osiris. 
The  Festival^of  Isis.  The  Festival  of  Diana.  The  Festival  of 
JWinerva.  The  Festival  of  J\iars.  Egyptian  festivals  and  proces- 
sions imitated  by  the  Jews,  &.c. 

2d,  Grecian  Festivals.  303 

ALPHABETICAL  calendar  of  Greek  Festivals,  viz, — The  Achillaea. 
The  Actia.  The  Adonia.  The  JEmaturia.  The  Agraulia.  The  Ag- 
rionia.  The  Agrotera.  The  Aloa.  The  Ambrosia.  The  Aphidro- 
mia.  The  Anthesphoria.  The  Anthesteria.  The  Apaturia.  The 
Aphrodisia.  The  Apollonia.  The  Artemisia.  The  Asclepia.  The 
Athenxa.  The  Boedromia.  The  B:>reasmi.  The  Brauronia.  The 
Cabiria.  The  Callisteria.  The  Canephoria.  The  Carneia.  The  Cha- 
rila.  The  Charisia.  The  Chelidonia.  The  Cissotomia.  The  Crania. 
The  Cynophontis.  The  Dxdala.  The  Daidis.  The  Daphnephoria. 
The  Delia.  The  Demetria.  The  Diamastigosis.  The  Diasia.  The 
Dionysia.  The  Dioscuria.  The  Elaphebolia.  The  Eleusinia.  The 
Eleutheria.  The  Encoenia.  The  Eoria.  The  Erotidia.  The  Eume- 
nidia.  The  Gamelia.  The  Hecatesia.  The  Hecatomboia.  The 
Hecatomphonia.  The  Helenia.  The  Hephxstia.  The  Heracleia. 
The  Ilermxa.  The  Horaea.  The  Hyacinthia.  The  Hydrophoria. 
The  Leonidea.  The  Lycsea.  The  Lycurgides.  The  Menelaia.  The 
Mussea.  The  Nemesia.  The  Nephalia.  The  Niccteria.  The  Nu- 
menia.  The  Oscophoria.  The  Plynteria.  The  Septerion.  The 
Soteria.  The  Thargela.  The  Theoxenia.  The  Thesmophoria.  The 
Triclaria.  The  Xanthica. 

3d,  Roman  Festivals.  326 

THE  Romans  adopted  the  Greek  festivals,  and  instituted  others  pro- 
per to  themselves:  First,  Of  those  that  were  common  to  both. 
Second,  Of  those  of  Roman  institution — their  motives.  The  Ago- 
nalia.  The  Agones  Capitolini.  The  A.rgeronalia.  The  Armilus- 
triutn.  The  Augustalia.  The  Caprotinx.  The  Carmentales.  The 
Charistia.  The  Compitalia.  The  Consuales  Ludi.  The  Equiria. 
The  Faunalia.  The  Feralia.  The  Feriae  Latinae.  The  Floralia. 
The  Hilaria.  The  Lemuria.  The  Minervalia.  The  Nemoralia. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.    III. 


page 

The  Palilia.  The  Parentalia.  The  Portumnalia.  The  Regifugium. 
The  Kemuria.  The  Robigalia.  The  Septimontium.  The  Termina- 
lia.  The  Vestalia.  The  Vinalia.  The  Vulcanalia — Comparative 
remarks  between  Festivals  and  Games. 

SECTION    VII. 

OF  GAMES.  337 

GAMES  were  religious  institutions; — they  were  also  politic.  Their 
origin.  They  were  instituted  by  Heroes,  and  participated  by  all 
classes.  They  were  highly  celebrated  in  Greece;  which  was  ow- 
ing to  the  honours  decreed  to  the  conquerors.  Some  Games  were 
repeated;  others  occurred  only  once: — their  modes  of  exercise, 
viz, — the  Race;  the  Coit;  the  Gauntlet;  the  Pancrace;  Leaping; 
the  Javelin;  the  Gladiators.  The  Hellanodices  or  Judges  of  the 
Games.  LUCIAN'S  derision  of  the  Combats.  Some  exercises  re- 
quired more,  some  less  ground:  in  the  earlier  ages  they  were 
performed  in  the  open  fields; — but  afterwards,  in  appropriate 
places,  wherein  convenient  structures  were  raised.  Fifteen  foun- 
ders of  the  Games. 

GRECIAN  GAMES. 

1st,  The  Olympic  Games.  350 

THE  origin  of  these  Games.  Their  frequent  interruptions  and  final 
establishment.  The  time  and  place  of  their  celebration.  The 
parts  of  the  Stadium; — the  dangers  of  the  Race-  The  combatants 
prohibited  the  use  of  fraud; — its  punishment.  The  concourse  to 
see  these  Games  enriched  the  city  and  state.  The  descendants  of 
Helen,  only,  admitted  to  dispute  the  prizes. 

2d,  ThePythic  Games.  356 

THE  origin  of  these  Games:  the  earlier  exercises  and  disputants  in 
these  Games:  Other  exercises  afterwards  introduced.  The  period 
for  celebrating  these  Games.  Their  adoption  by  the  Romans. 

3d,  The  Nemean  Games.  359 

THE  origin,  and  the  period  of  celebrating  these  Games.  The  exer- 
cises of  these  Games  were  the  same  as  the  former.  The  reward 
of  the  conquerors  therein. 

4th,  The  Isthmic  Games.  360 

THE  origin  of  these  Games.  The  trials  of  skill;  and  the  reward  to 
the  victors. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.    111. 


page 

5th,  The  Scenic  Games.  361 

THE  exercises  of  these  Games;  and  to  whom  they  were  dedicated. 
The  conqueror  received  the  title  of  Poet  Laureat.  The  scenic  ex- 
ercises were  introduced  into  several  Games,  besides  those  proper- 
ly Scenic. 

ROMAN    GAMES. 

1st,  The  Trojan  Games,  or  Games  of  the  Youth,  363 

THE  founder  of  these  Games, — their  patrons.  VIRGIL'S  account 
of  them. 

2d,  The  Secular  Games.  369 

THE  origin  of  these  Games,  and  their  periods.  Their  solemnization. 

3d,  The  Games  of  Ceres.  369 

THE  origin  of  these  Games.    Their  solemnization. 

4th,  The  Games  of  Cybele,  and  those  of  the  other  great  Gods.         370 
THE  origin  and  celebration  of  the  Games  of  Cybele.  Those  of  other 
great  Gods — different  from  the  former. 

5th,  The  Games  of  Castor  and  Pollux.  371 

THE  origin  and  celebration  of  these  Games. 

6th,  The  Cercensian  Games.  372 

THESE  were  of  Greek  origin,  and  adopted  by  Romulus. 

7th,  The  Capitoline  Games.  372 

ON  what  occasion  founded; — their  exercises. 

8th,  The  Games  celebrated  in  the  Camps.  373 

THESE  were  instituted  for  the  health  of  the  soldiers.. 

9th,  Some  other  Games.  373 

CONCLUSION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


OF  THE  SENTIMENTS  OF  THE  ANCIENTS,  ABOUT  THE  ORIGIN 
OF  THE  WORLD,  AND  OF  THE  GODS. 


SINCE  the  opinion  of  the  ancients  about  the  origin  of  the 
Gods  was  always  mixed  with  that  of  the  origin  of  the  world,  I 
shall  in  the  way  of  Introduction  to  this  MYTHOLOGY,  say  some- 
thing about  both  their  Cosmogony  and  their  Theogony,  derived 
from  the  writings  of  the  early  historians,  whether  Chaldean,  Phe- 
nician,  Egyptian,  Atlantidae,  Greek,  Chinese,  or  Indian. 

1st,  Cosmogony  and  Theogony  of  the  Chaldeans. 

THERE  is  no  disputing  the  Chaldeans  the 
Antiquity       of    ,  P  r  .  .         . 

the  Chaldeans;—    n  nor  °^  being  one  of  the  most  ancient  nations  in 
their  historians;--    the  world.  NIMKOD.  their  first  king,  lived  even 
'  in  the  time  of  PELEG,  and  he  is  looked  upon  to 

be  the  author  of  the  mad  project  of  the  toiver  of  Babel,  This  peo- 
ple according  to  JOSEPHUS,  took  care  from  the  earliest  periods  of 
time,  to  preserve,  by  public  inscriptions  and  other  monuments, 
the  memory  of  all  occurrences,  and  to  employ  the  wisest  men  of 
their  nation  in  writing  their  annals;  but  there  are  no  better  proofs 
of  the  antiquity  of  the  Chaldeans,  than  the  agreement  of  their 
opinion  about  the  origin  of  the  world,  the  ten  generations  that 
went  before  the  deluge,  and  the  other  ten  that  came  after  it,  with 
the  writings  of  MOSES. — The  history  of  the  Chaldeans  had  been 
written  by  four  ancient  authors,  BEROSUS,  ABYDENUS,*  APOLLO- 
DORUS,  and  ALEXANDER  POLYHISTOR.  We  have  some  fragments 
of  their  works  now  remaining  in  JOSEPHUS,  EUSEBIUS,  and  SYN- 
CELLUS;  and  it  is  in  the  last  of  these  authors  we  find  that 
small  piece  of  BEROSUS  upon  their  Cosmogony,  viz.— 


INTRODUCTION. 


CHALDEAN  COSMOGONY   AND  THEUGONY. 


.  In  the  reign  ot  Amenon,  a  monster,  half  man, 

their  Cosmogony     anc]  naif  fisn  by  tne  name  of  Qannes,  sprung  from 
and  Theogony; 

tne  red  sea,  appeared  near  a  place  m  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Babylon.  He  had  two  heads;  that  of 
the  man^  was  below  that  of  thejis/i.  To  his  fish's  tail  were  joined 
the  feet  of  a  man,  and  he  had  human  voice  and  sfieech:  his  image 
is  preserved  to  this  very  day  in  painting.  This  monster,  according 
to  the  Chaldean  author,  abode  with  men  by  day,  without  food,  and 
taught  them  the  knowledge  of  letters  and  sciences,  and  the  prac- 
tice of  arts;  to  build  cities  and  temples,  to  enact  laws,  to  apply 
themselves  to  geometry,  to  sow  and  gather  grain  and  fruits;  in  a 
word,  whatever  could  contribute  to  civilize  their  manners. — The 
same  author  adds  concerning  Oannes,  that  he  had  written  a  book 
about  the  origin  of  things,  wherein  he  taught,  that  there  was  a 
time  when  all  was  water  and  darkness,  in  which  were  contained 
animals  of  a  monstrous  form — some  men  with  two  wings;  others 
with  four,  having  also  two  heads  upon  the  same  body,  one  of  a 
man,  the  other  of  a  woman,  with  the  distinctions  of  either  sex; 
that  some  were  seen  with  the  legs  and  horns  of  a  goat;  while 
others  had  the  fore  or  hind  parts  of  a  horse,  like  the  Hijifiocen- 
taurs;  others  were  born  with  the  head  of  a  man  and  the  body  of 
a  bull:  that  the  dogs  had  four  tails,  with  the  hind  parts  of  a  fish: 
in  short,  that  all  the  animals  were  of  a  monstrous  and  irregular 
make,  like  the  representations  of  them  to  be  seen  in  the  tem- 
ple of  Belus.  This  author  added  farther,  that  a  woman  named 
Omoroca,  was  mistress  of  the  universe,  and  that  the  god  Belus 
clove  her  asunder,  formed  earth  of  the  one  part,  and  heaven  of 
the  other,  and  put  all  those  monsters  to  death.  Then  this  god 
divided  the  darkness,  separated  earth  from  heaven,  and  arranged 
the  universe  in  order;  and  after  the  destruction  of  the  animals, 
\vho  could  not  support  the  splendour  of  the  light,  seeing  the 
•world  desolate,  he  ordered  his  own  head  to  be  cut  off  by  one  of 
the  Gods,  to  mix  with  earth  the  blood  which  flowed  from  the 
wound,  and  of  it  to  frame  men  and  animals;  after  which,  he' 
framed  the  stars  and  the  planets,  and  thus  finished  the  produc- 
tion of  all  beings. — SYNCELLUS,  who  has  preserved  to  us  the 
fragments  of  several  other  ancients,  says,  that,  according  to 
ABYDENUS,  a  second  Annedotus  or  an  animal  resembling  Oannes, 
had  likewise  come  out  of  the  sea,  under  the  reign  of  Amillarus^ 


INTRODUCTION. 


CHALDEAN    COSMOGONY   AND  THEOGONY. 


(see  the  table  in  the  note)  who  dwelt  in  the  town  of  Pantibibla* 
six  and  twenty  &are&\  from  the  foundation  of  the  Chaldean  mon- 
archy. But  APOLLODORUS  said,  as  the  same  SYXCELLUS  has  it, 
that  it  was  only  under  the  succeeding  reign  he  appeared,  that  is, 
in  the  time  of  Amenon.  POLYHISTOR,  like  BEROSUS,  introduced 
his  Oannes  in  the  first  year;  that  is,  probably,  at  the  beginning 
of  that  same  monarchy;  which  would  fain  be  a  third  Oannes. 
The  same  APOLLODORUS  speaks  of  a  fourth  Oannes  or  Annedo- 
tus,  who  had  likewise  come  out  of  the  sea  under  the  reign  of 
Daonus.  In  addition  to  these,  ABYDENUS  mentions  four  persons, 
who  came  at  that  time  by  sea,  to  give  the  Chaldeans  a  more  full 
explication  of  what  Oannes  had  taught  them  only  in  a  summary 
way;  he  names  these  four  doctors^  Euedocus,  Eneugamus,  Eneu- 
bulus,  and  Anementus4 — We  shall  subjoin  what  the  above  histo- 
rians say  respecting  the  deluge,  and  conclude  with  such  reflec- 
tions as  the  occasion  suggests. 


*  SCALIGEH  upon  EusEBius,  p.  406,  remarks  very  justly  that  the  an- 
cients have  taken  no  notice  of  the  town  named  Pantibibla.  What  if  it  was 
the  Sipphara  of  PTOLEMY,  where  XIXUTRUS,  who  is  the  same  with  NOAH, 
deposited  the  remains  he  had  composed  before  the  deluge?  Since  the  name 
may  be  derived  from  the  Chaldaic  word  sepher,  meaning  a  book,  a  collection; 
and  that  is  precisely  the  same  sense,  which  the  word  Pantibibla  bears  in 
Greek.  Sir  ISAAC  NEWTON,  in  his  chronology,  takes  that  town  for  the 
Sfpharvaim  mentioned  in  the  second  book  of  Kings,  ch.  19,  v.  13. 

f  The  ancients  divided  time  into  sares,  neres,  and  eases.  The  tares,  (saros 
according  to  SYNCELLUS)  denoted  three  thousand  six  hundred  years. 

i  Such  was  the  tradition  of  the  Chaldeans  about  the  origin  of  the  world, 
where  it  is  plain  they  suppose  the  Gods  prior  to  the  formation  of  the 
world.  We  see  there  is  no  mention  of  their  birth  as  in  the  tradition  of 
the  Phenicians.  Be  that  as  it  will,  here  are  the  ten  first  generations  ac- 
cording to  the  opinion  of  the  Chaldeans,  with  the  duration  of  each  reign 
in  sares. 

Thus,  AFRICAXUS.          Thus,  ABYDENUS.        Thus,  APOLLODORUS. 
Kings.  Sares.         Kings.  Sares.         Kings.  Sares. 

1  Alorus,  reigned    10       1  Alorus,  reigned    10       1  Alorus,  reigned,  10 

2  Alasparus,  3       2  Alaparus,  5       2  Alaparus, 

3  Amelon,  13      3  Amillarus,        •    13      3  Amelon, 

4  Amenon,  12      4  Amenon,  12      4  Amenon, 

5  Metalarus,  18       5  Megalarus,  18      5  Megalarus,  18 

6  Daonus,  29      6  Daos,  10       6  Daonus,  10 

7  Evedorachus,       18      7  Evedorescus,       18      7  Evedoriscus,        18 


INTRODUCTION. 


CHALDEAN   COSMOGONY  AND   THEOGONY. 


Chronus  or  Saturn,  having  appeared  to  Xixu- 
''  TRUS  in  a  dream,  forewarned  him,  that  on  the  fif- 


uge.  teenth  of  the  month  D<esus,  mankind  were  to 

^== ==  be  destroyed  by  a  deluge;  and  enjoined  him  to 
write  down  the  origin,  the  history,  and  the  end  of  all  things;  and 
to  conceal  his  memoirs  under  ground,  in  the  city  of  the  $un} 
named  Sifi/i/iara.  After  this  he  was  to  build  a  ship,  to  lay  up  the 
necessary  provisions,  and  enter  into  it  himself,  his  friends,  and 
relations,  and  shut  in  with  him  the  birds  and  four-footed  beasts. 
XIXUTRUS  put  his  orders  punctually  into  execution,  and  made  a 
ship  which  was  two  furlongs  in  breadth,  and  five  in  length,  and 
no  sooner  had  he  entered  into  it  than  the  earth  was  drowned. 
Sometime  after,  seeing  the  waters  abate,  he  let  go  some  fowls, 
which  finding  neither  nourishment  nor  resting-place,  returned 
into  the  vessel.  A  few  days  after,  he  sent  out  others  that  returned 
with  mud  adhering  to  their  feet.  The  third  time  he  let  them  go, 
they  appeared  no  more;  whence  he  concluded,  that  the  earth 
was  beginning  to  be  sufficiently  discovered:  then  he  made  a  win- 
dow in  the  vessel,  and  finding  it  had  rested  on  a  mountain,  he 
came  forth  \vith  his  wife,  his  daughter,  and  the  pilot;  and,  having 
paid  adoration  to  the  earth,  raised  an  altar,  and  offered  sacrifice 
to  the  Gods,  he  and  those  who  were  with  him  disappeared.  Those 
who  staid  in  the  ship  finding  that  they  did  not  return,  came  out 
and  made  search  for  them,  but  in  vain:  only  they  heard  a  voice 
sounding  these  words  in  their  ears,  XIXUTRUS,  by  the  merit  of 
his  piety,  is  translated  to  Heaven,  and  ranked  among  the  Gods, 
with  those  who  accompanied  him.  The  same  voice  exhorted  them 
to  he  religious  and  to  repair  to  Babylon,  after  digging  up  at  Sifi- 

8  Amphis,  10       8  Anedaphus,  9       8  Amenpsinus,        10 

9  Otiartes,  89  9  Otiartes,  8 
10  Xixutrus,              18     10  Sisuthrus,                     10  Xixutrus,              18 

Since,  in  this  system  of  the  Chaldeans,  it  is  taken  for  granted,  that  ALORUS 
is  ADAM,  there  is  no  doubt  but  XIXUTRUS  must  be  NOAH.  Accordingly 
they  report  it  was  in  this  time  the  deluge  happened;  where,  by  the  by, 
the  Chaldaick  authors  are  more  honest  than  SANCHONIATHON,  whom  I 
shall  speak  of  afterwards;  the  latter  describing  the  ten  first  generations 
of  the  infant  world,  and  the  ten  immediately  succeeding,  by  an  unpardon- 
able prevarication  takes  no  notice  of  this  celebrated  event.  What  the  au- 
thors I  have  been  quoting  say  about  it  follows  in  the  text. 


INTRODUCTION. 


CHALDEAN    COSMOGONY  AND  THEOGONY. 


fihara  the  memoiis  that  had  been  deposited  there.  The  voice  be- 
ing heard  no  more,  they  set  about  rebuilding  the  city  I  have 
named,  with  some  others. 

This  is  a  gross  system  of  physics,  and  a  theog- 
no  less  so>  Tt  is  true  ALEXANDER  POLYHIS- 
TOR  thought  the  whole  system  allegorical;  but 
what  allegories  could  render  it  supportable?  However,  monstrous 
as  it  is,  it  appears  to  be  only  a  disfigured  tradition  of  the  history  of 
the  creation,  taken  either  from  the  books  of  MOSES,  or  from  a  tra- 
dition still  more  ancient.  It  seems  plain,  that  the  place  where 
MOSES  speaks  of  the  darkness  that  covered  the  earth,  then  mixed 
•with  the  water,  et  tenebre  erant  super  facum  abyssi,  is  the  founda- 
tion of  this  whole  cosmogony,  in  which  the  Chaldeans  had  feigned 
those  monsters,  whose  history  we  have  now  read,  to  give  a  more 
sensible  and  hideous  description  of  that  state  of  confusion  which 
reigned  in  the  world  immediately  after  the  Creation.  As  to  what 
regards  the  forming  of  man,  it  is  evident  that  the  history  thereof 
is  likewise  taken  from  the  description  of  MOSES,  who  says,  that 
God,  after  he  had  as  it  were  exerted  himself  in  the  production 
of  this  masterpiece,  took  of  the  earth  which  he  tempered  with 
water,  and  breathed  into  it  a  living  spirit.  These  last  words,  it 
would  seem,  gave  the  author  of  the  Chaldean  system  occasion  to 
say,  that  Belus  had  ordered  his  head  to  be  cut  off;  or,  according 
to  another  tradition,  that  he  himself  had  cut  off  that  of  Omoroca; 
whence  BEROSUS  concludes,  this  was  the  cause  of  man's  being 
endued  with  intelligence!  As  for  those  man-monsters  who  had 
two  heads,  four  wings,  and  both  sexes,  we  may  reckon  the  idea 
of  them  to  have  been  likewise  taken  from  those  words  of  MOSES, 
where  the  historian,  in  the  second  chapter,  making  a  recapitula- 
tion of  what  he  had  said  in  the  first,  subjoins,  in  speaking  of  ADAM 
and  EVE,  masculum  et  faminam  creavit  illos. — By  the  by,  it  is 
this  notion  of  the  Chaldeans,  if  we  may  be  allowed  the  digres- 
sion, that  has  given  rise  to  the  fable  of  the  Androgynes,  so  cele- 
brated in  PLATO'S  dialogue,  intitled  The  Banquet;  a  fable,  which 
this  philosopher  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Aristophanes,  *one  of  the 
speakers.  "  The  Gods,  says  he,  formed  man  at  first  of  a  round 
figure,  with  two  bodies,  two  faces,  four  legs,  four  feet,  and  both 
sexes."  These  men  were  of  such  extraordinary  strength,  that 
they  resolved  to  make  war  upon  the  Gods.  Jupiter  incensed  by 


INTRODUCTION. 


FHENICIAN    COSMOGONY    AND    THEOGONY. 


this  enterprize,  was  going  to  destroy  them,  as  he  had  done  the 
Giants,  who  attempted  to  scale  Heaven;  but  foreseeing  that  he 
must  have  entirely  extinguished  the  human  race,  he  contented 
himself  with  parting  them  asunder;  to  the  end,  that,  being  thus 
divided  into  two  parts,  hencefoith  they  migljt  neither  be  so 
strong,  nor  so  daring.  At  the  same  time  he  gave  orders  to  d/iollo 
to  adjust  these  two  half  bodies,  and  to  stretch  over  the  breast  and 
the  other  parts  of  the  body,  the  skin,  as  it  is  at  present,  and 
•which  bears  a  mark  in  the  navel  that  it  has  been  fastened  to  it, 
and  knotted  as  one  shuts  a  fiurse.  These  two  parts  of  one  body 
thus  disjoined,  want  to  be  reunited;  and  this  is  the  origin  of  Love. 
It  is  easy  to  see,  that  this  fiction  is  drawn  from  the  history,  which 
MOSES  gives  of  the  formation  of  the  woman,  who  was  taken  from 
one  of  ADAM'S  ribs,  and  was  bone  of  his  bone,  and  flesh  of  his 
flesh:  but  to  return — In  vain  does  the  mind  of  man  use  all  its 
efforts  to  corrupt  the  truth;  it  leaves  always  some  rays  of  light 
to  lead  us  to  find  it  out:  for  the  name  of  Oannes  or  Oes,  as  HEL- 
LADIUS  calls  him,  seems  to  be  formed  from  the  Syriac  word 
Onedo,  which  signifies  a  traveller  or  a  stranger.  Thus  the  whole 
story  amounts  to  this,  that  at  a  time,  which  cannot  be  determined, 
there  arrived  by  sea,  a  man  who  taught  the  Chaldeans  some  prin- 
ciples of  philosophy,  and  some  knowledge  of  ancient  traditions, 
and  left  them  memoir*  upon  that  subject  which  no  doubt  had 
the  books  of  MOSES  for  their  foundation. 


The  Cosmogony  and  Th-eogony  of  the  Phenicians. 

SANCHONIATHON,  priest  of  Berytha,  who  is 
the'^authemidty  reckoned  to  have  lived  before  the  war  of  Troy, 
of  his  fragment,  had  written  upon  the  Cosmogony  and  Theogony 
ofthe  phenic'ans-  EusEBius,  who  has  preserved 
to  us  a  long  fragment  of  this  treatise,  recites  a 
passage  relative  to  this  author,  which  needs  not  be  suspected, 
since  it  is  taken  from  PORPHYRY,  the  greatest  enemy  the  Chris- 
tians ever  had.  This  author  reports,  that  SANCHONIATHON  had 
written  about  the  Jews,  things  very  true;  that  he  agreed  with 
their  own  writers,  and  learned  several  circumstances,  which  he 
relates,  from  Jerombaal  priest  of  Je~vo,  that  he  had  dedicated  his 


INTRODUCTION. 


PHENICIAN    CO-M    OONY    AND   THEOOONY. 


work  to  dbibail  king  of  Phenicia;  and  that  not  only  this  prince,  but 
they  who  were  commissioned  to  examine  his  books,  were  agreed 
as  to  the  truth  of  this  author's  history:  In  fine,  that  he  had  taken 
what  he  advanced,  partly  from  the  registers  of  particular  towns, 
and  partly  from  the  archives,  which  were  carefully  preserved  in 
the  temples. — The  work  of  this  ancient  author  was  yet  extant  in 
the  first  ages  of  Christianity,  since  it  is  about  that  time,  that  is, 
about  the  reign  of  the  dnionines,  that  PHILO  of  Byblos,  translated 
it  into  Greek,  and  divided  it  into  nine  books.  In  the  preface  he 
had  annexed  to  them,  he  said,  "  that  SANCHONIATHUN^  man  of 
learning  and  great  experience,  being  passionately  desirous  to 
know  the  histories  of  all  nations,  and  thut  from  their  origin,  had 
made  an  exact  scrutiny  into  the  writings  of  THAAUTUS,  from  an 
assurance,  that  as  he  had  been  the  inventor  of  letters,  he  must 
have  been  likewise  the  first  historian."  It  was  therefore  from  the 
works  of  this  chief  of  the  learned,  THAAUTUS  or  the  celebrated 
Mercury^  that  the  Phenician  author  had  taken  the  foundation  of 
his  history. — This  translation  appears,  from  what  remains  we 
have  of  it  preserved  by  EUSEBIUS.  to  have  been  interpolated  by 
PHILO,  and  adapted  to  the  ideas  of  the  Greeks  in  his  time.  What 
is  farther  unlucky,  (for  it  is  proper  that  we  give  a  plain  and  ex- 
act account  of  this  fragn.ent)  besides  its  being  interpolated  by 
PHILO,  as  has  been  just  said,  KUSEBIUS  too,  in  reciting  it,  instead 
of  having  copied  it  as  it  was,  has  intermixed  with  it,  as  one 
who  reads  it  with  attention  will  easily  perceive,  not  only  the  reflec- 
tions of  the  Greek  translator,  but  also  others  of  his  own,  which 
very  much  weaken  the  authority  of  this  valuable  remain  of  Phe- 
nician antiquities;  while  it  is  not  always  easy  to  distinguish  what 
is  SANCHONIATHON'S  from  the  additions  of  PHILO  or  EUSEBIUS. 
The  fragment  may  be  divided  into  three  parts;  and  they  who 
would  see  the  entire  translation  of  it,  need  only  read  the  reflec- 
tions of  M.  FouiiMONTUpon  ancient  nations.  1st,  The  first  contains 
the  Cosmogony  of  the  Phenicians;  2d,  the  second,  die  history  of 
the  primitive  world  before  the  deluge,  although  this  author  says 
not  a  word  of  that  noted  event;  3d,  and  the  third  treats  of  those 
who  lived  after  the  deluge,  among  whom  we  shall  recognise  many 
names  of  the  Pagan  Deities. 


10  INTRODUCTION. 


FHENICIAN   COSMOGONY  AND  THEOGONY. 


-  1st,  According  to  this  ancient  author,  "the 

f  Vhe'worid^111    "  ^rst  P"nc'P^e  °^  tne  universe  was  a  dark  and 

-  "spirituous  air,  a  Chaos  full  of  confusion,  and 
"  without  light,  eternal,  and  of  an  endless  dura- 

«  tion.  The  spirit  falling  in  love  with  its  own  principles,  entered 
"into  close  union  with  them;  and  this  union  was  called  Love. 
"  Hence  sprung  Mot  or  Mod,  that  is  to  say,  a  slime,  or  rather 
"  an  aqueous  mixture,  which  was  the  seminal  principle  of  all 
«  the  creatures,  and  the  generation  of  the  universe.  The  first 
"  animals  were  void  of  sensation;  they  engendered  .others 
"  endued  with  intelligence,  who  were  named  Zojihazemin,  that 
<'  is,  contemplators  of  the  Heavens.  Immediately  after  Mot, 
"  the  Sun,  the  Moon,  the  Stars,  smaller  and  greater,  began  to  ap- 
"  pear  and  shine  forth.  The  earth  being  strongly  illuminated  by 
"  the  intense  heat  communicated  to  the  land  and  the  sea,  the 
"  winds  were  produced,  wiih  clouds  that  fell  down  in  showers 
«  of  rain;  and  the  waters,  with  which  the  earth  had  been  over- 
"  flowed  being  dissipated  by  the  heat  of  the  Sun,  were  again 
«  united  in  the  air,  where  they  formed  lightning  and  thunder, 
"  whose  noise  awakened  the  intelligent  animals,  and  terrified 
"  them  so,  that  they  began  to  stir  in  the  earth  and  in  the  sea."  — 
This  system  of  the  Phenicians  led  to  atheism  —  God  being  left 
out  in  the  formation  of  the  universe.  SANCHONIATHON  even 
says,  that  the  spirit,  such  as  he  conceives  it  to  be,  had  no  know- 
ledge of  its  own  proper  production. 

2d,  The  Phenician  author,  after  this  account 
°f  the  origin  of  the  wodd'  enters  uPon  the  his' 


the  deluge.  tory  of  the  first  man  and  first  woman,  whom 

........  —  —•  •    PHILO  his  translator  calls  Protogonus  and  JEon; 

"  and  adds  that  the  latter  found  the  fruits  of  trees  to  be  firofier  nour- 
"ishment.  The  children  of  these  parents  of  human  kind,  who 
"  were  Genus  and  Genera,  dwelt  in  Phenicia.  In  time  of  a  great 
"drought,  they  stretched  forth  their  hands  towards  the  SUN, 
"  whom  they  looked  upon  as  the  sole  God  and  sovereign  of  Hea- 
"  ven,  and  gave  him  the  name  of  Bcelsamen;  which,  in  the  Phe- 
"  nician  language,  signifies  Lord  of  the  Heavens.  Genus  after- 
«  wards  begat  other  men,  who  were  named  Phos,  Pur,  Phlox, 


INTRODUCTION.  11 


PHENICIAN    COSMOGONY    AND   THEOGONY. 


"  that  is,  light)  Jire,  and  Jlame:  these  are  they,  who  by  rubbing 
"two  pieces  of  wood  against  one  another,  found  out  the  use  of 
"  fire.  Their  sons,  who  were  of  an  enormous  size,  gave  their 
"  names  to  the  mountains  which  they  possessed;  hence  the 
"names  of  mount  Cassius,  Libanus,  Antilibanus,  Brathys,  &c. 
«  The  offspring  of  those  Giants  were  Memrumus  and  Hyjisura- 
«  nius.  The  latter  dwelt  at  Tyre,  and  invented  the  art  of  building 
"  cottages  of  reeds,  and  rushes,  and  the  papyrus;  and  his  bro- 
"  ther,  with  whom  he  quarrelled,  taught  men  to  clothe  them- 
"  selves  with  the  skins  of  beasts.  Nor  was  this  all,  for  an  impet- 
"  uous  wind  having  kindled  a  forest  hard  by  Tyre,  he  took  a  tree, 
"cut  off  its  branches,  and  having  launched  it  into  the  sea,  made 
"  use  of  it  for  a  ship.  He  also  paid  a  religious  homage  to  two 
"  stones  he  had  consecrated  to  the  tuind  and  Jire,  and  poured  out 
"  libations  to  them  of  the  blood  of  certain  animals.  '  After  the 
"  death  of  Memrumus  and  Hyfisuranius,  continues  SANCHONIA- 
"  THON,  their  children  consecrated  to  them  misshapen  pieces  of 
"wood  and  stone,  which  they  adored,  and  instituted  anniversary 
"  festivals  to  their  honour.  Several  years  after  this  generation, 
"  which  is  the  sixth,  came  Agreus  and  Hulieus,  inventors  of  fishing 
"  and  hunting,  as  their  names  import.  These  had  offspring,  two 
"  sons,  who  invented  the  art  of  making  instruments  of  iron.  He  of 
"  the  two  whose  name  was  Chrysor,  the  same  with  Hefihestus,  or 
"  Vulcan,  gave  himself  to  the  abominable  study  of  incantations 
"  and  sorceries;  invented  the  hook,  the  bait  and  fishing-line,  the 
"  use  of  barks  fit  for  that  purpose,  with  sails.  So  many  inventions 
"  procured  him  after  death  divine  honours,  under  the  name  of 
«  Zeumichius,  or  Jufiifer  the  engineer.  These  two  ingenious  bro- 
"  thers  are  also  thought  to  have  invented  the  art  of  making  walls 
"  of  brick.  Their  sons  were,  Tec/mites  or  the  artist,  and  Geinus 
« Autocthon,  that  is,  home-born  man  of  the  earth;  they  having 
"  found  out  the  secret  of  mixing  straw  with  brick,  formed  tiles 
"thereof,  which  they  dried  in  the  sun.  Their  two  sons  named 
«  Agrai  the  swain,  and  Agrotes  the  husbandman,  devoted  them- 
"  selves  to  the  rural  life  and  to  hunting.  They  were  "also  styled 
«  Alctx  and  Titans.  In  fine,  Amijnus  and  Magus,  the  counter-wi- 
"  zard  and  the  conjurer,  were  the  last  of  this  primitive  race;  and 
S(  they  taught  men  the  art  of  building  villages,  and  of  gathering 
B 


12  INTRODUCTION. 


I-HKNICIAN    COSMOGONY   AND  THEOGONY. 


"  thrir  flock  into  them.* — There  wits  also  in  their  time,  in  the 
"neighbourhood  of  Eyblos,  one  Elion,  a  name  that  may  be  ren- 
"  dcicd  in  Greek,  Hvjisistuv,  the  most  high,  who  had  to  wife  Be- 
"  ruth  They  had  a  son  named  Efiigcus,  who  was  afterwards  call- 
"  ed  Uranus,  and  a  daughter,  who  went  by  the  name  of  Ge;  and 
"  it  is  the  names  of  those  two  children  the  Greeks  have  given 
"  to  Heaven  and  Earth.  Hyfisistus  having  died  in  a  hunting-match, 
"  was  advanced  to  divine  honours,  and  had  libations  and  sacrifices 
"  offered  to  him.  Uranus  possessed  his  father's  throne,  and  hav- 
"  ing  married  his  sister  Ge,  had  several  children  by  her;  Hits,  who 
"was  styled  Chronus  or  Saturn;  Betylus;  Dagon;  and  Atlas." 
-• -  "  Of  those,  says  SANCHONIATHOV,  meaning 

3d,  Those  who    u  Amunus  and  Mavus*  were  born  Misor  and  8yd' 
lived    after     the 
cjt}U(,,c  "  ic,  the  tree  and  the  just,  who  round  out  the  use 

— •    •  .     .  -.     "  of  salt.    The  former  was  father  to  Thaautus, 

"  who  first  invented  letters;  this  is  the  Thoot  or  Thoor  of  the  Egyp- 

*  Th£se,  according  to  the  Phenician  author,  except  that  of  Elion  or  Hyp- 
sislus,  who  is  next,  but  incidentally,  mentioned,  were  the  ten  first  genera- 
tions, and  were  of  the  line  of  CAIN;  on  which  we  have  four  remarks  to 
make.  First,  that  this  ancient  author,  who  had  a  mind  to  favour  idolatry, 
was  willing  to  mention  none  but  CAIN'S  descendants,  who  are  reckoned, 
not  without  reason,  to  have  been  the  founders  of  idolatry.  Secondly,  that 
he  makes  no  mention  of  the  deluge,  which,  according  to  the  fathers  of 
the  church,  was  sent  to  punish  this  race  for  their  crimes,  the  greatest  of 
which  was  the  sacrilegious  worship  they  paid  to  the  creatures.  A  third  re- 
mark is,  that  SANCHONIATHON  counts  ten  generations  in  the  lineage  of 
CAIN,  though  MOSES  reckons  only  eight,  passing  from  the  third  to  the 
sixth,  or  from  ENOCH  to  IRAD.  But  we  may  suppose  that  MOSES,  whose 
aim  was  principally  to  take  notice  of  the  race  of  SETH,  or  that  of  the  just, 
has  not  in  the  same  way  followed  that  of  CAIN,  especially  the  fourth  and 
fifth  generations,  because,  perhaps,  they  did  not  deserve  to  be  named;  for 
it  is  not  likely,  that  the  eight  generations  of  CAIN  were  of  equal  duration 
with  the  ten  of  SETH,  of  whom  MOSES  makes  mention.  The  last  remark 
is  ih^the  Phenician  author,  as  well  as  MOSES,  ascribes  to  these  descen- 
dants of  CAIN,  the  greater  part  of  useful  inventions,  although  the  two 
authors  are  not  always  agreed  as  to  the  time  when,  nor  the  persons  by 
•whom,  these  discoveries  were  made;  SANCHONIATHON  giving  to  one  race 
what  MOSES  gives  to  another,  as  one  may  be  convinced  by  reading  the 
first  chapter  of  Genesis. — These  ten  generations  I  have  said,  belonged  to 
CAIN'S  descendants,  except  Hypsistus  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Byblos,  be- 
caus.e  the  learned,  after  CUMBERLAND,  who  has  given  a  large  explication 


INTRODUCTION. 


PHENICIAK    COSMOGONY   AND   THEOGONY, 


"  tians,  the  Thogit  or  Thoyth  of  the  Alexandrians,  and  the  Her- 
"  77?fs  of  the  Greeks:  the  sons  of  Sydic  were  the  Dioscuri  or  Cabin, 
"afterwards named  Corybantes  or  Samot/iraces.  These  built  a  ship 
"and  improved  the  art  of  navigation;  and  among  their  children 
"there  were  some  who  found  out  the  use  of  simples;  remedies 
"  against  the  bite  of  animals;  and  in  fine,  the  art  of  enchantment  or 
"  the  method  of  curing  these  bites  by  spells. —  Uranus,  whose  chil- 
"  dren  were  alive  in  the  time  of  those  we  have  just  been  speak- 
"  ing  of,  having  succee  led  Ins  father  Elian,  had  by  his  sister  Ge 
"the  four  sons  already  nan. eel;  C/ironus;  Betylus;  Atlas;  and  Da- 
" gon  or  Siton,  whose  surname  was  Zeus  drotrius,  or  Jupiter  the 
u  tiller,  from  his  having  invented  the  art  of  sowing  corn;  he  had 
"  also  several  other  children  by  different  concubines.  Ge,  dis- 
"  pleased  with  the  gallantries  of  her  spouse,  made  bitter  com- 
"  plaints  to  him' upon  that  account;  which  obliged  him  to  turn 
»  her  off.  But  having  an  affection  for  her,  he  took  her  back,  uncl 

of  this  fragment  of  the  Phenician  author,  contend  that  this  Hypsistus  \v;is 
the  father  of  NOAH,  and  that  the  reason  of  his  being  mentioned  so  tran- 
siently is,  that  he  was  an  enemy  to  the  idolaters,  whose  cause  SANCHO- 
NIATHON  pleads. — For  the  reader's  satisfaction,  I  shall  set  down  the  two 
tables  of  GAIN'S  descendants,  or  the  ten  first  generations  according  to 
MOSES  and  SANCHONIATHON. 

According  to •  M o s E s.  According  to  SANCHONIATHOX. 

1  Adam,  Eve.  1  Protogonus,  ^Eon. 

2  Cain.  2  Genus,  Genea. 

3  Enoch.  3  Phos,  Pur,  Phlox. 

4  4  Cassius,  Libanus. 

5  5  Memrumus,  Usous. 

6  Irad.  6  Agreus,  Halieus. 

7  Methusael.  7  Chrysor  or  Hephestus. 

8  Mehujael.  8  Technites,  Geinus. 

9  Lamech.            •  9  Agrus,  Agrotes. 
10  Jabal,  Jubal,  Tubal-Cain.  10  Amynus,  Magus. 

-  By  MOSES,  as  we  see,  CAIN'S  race  ends  with  the  last  of  the  persons  I 
have  now  named,  because  they  themselves  or  their  descendants  perished 
in  the  deluge,  not  so  much  as  one  of  them  being  saved.  If  you  ask  how 
it  comes  then  to  be  continued  by  SANCHONIATHON,  in  the.fhird  part  of 
bis  abstract  I  am  going  to  transcribe;  the  answer  is  easy,  that  he  has  taken 
in  NOAH'S  descendants  to  make  up  his  second  decade:  this  will  appear 
evident  by  the  reflections  afterwards  to  be  made. 


14  INTRODUCTION. 


PHENICIAN    COSMOGONY   AND   THEOGONY. 


"  had  several  other  children  by  her,  all  of  whom  he  sought  to  de- 
*l  stroy.  Chronus  arriving  at  the  age  of  manhood,  espoused  his 
"  mother's  quarrel,  placed  at  the  head  of  his  counsel  Hermes 
"  Trismegivtus,  who  was  his  secretary,  made  vigorous  opposition 
"  to  the  designs  of  Uranus,  expelled  him  from  his  kingdom,  and 
"  succeeded  to  his  power;  in  the  scuffle  having  taken  a  concubine 
"  whom  his  father  tenderly  loved,  he  gave  her,  though  big  with 
"  child,  in  marriage  to  his  brother  Dagon;  soon  after  he  had  her 
"  she  was  delivered  of  a  male  child,  who  was  named  Demaroon. 
"  Chronus,  for  security,  built  a  wall  round  his  house,  and  found- 
"  ed  •Byblos,  the  first  city  of  Phenicia.  Some  time  after,  having 
"conceived  a  violent  jealousy  against  his  brother  Atlas,  by  the 
"  advice  of  Trismegistus,  he  caused  him  to  be  thrown  into  a  pit, 
"  where  he  perished.  Chronus  had  at  that  time,  two  daughters; 
"Persephone  or  Proserpine,  who  died  a 'virgin;  and  Athene  or 
"  Minerva;  he  had  also  a  son  named  Sadid,  whom  he  put  to  death. 
"  He  also  cut  ofT  his  daughter's  head,  and  by  these  actions,  greatly 
"  amazed  the  Gods;  those  I  mean  of  his  party,  who  were  deno- 
"  minated  Eloim.  About  that  time,  continues  the  Phenician  au- 
"  thor,  the  offspring  of  the  Dioscuri,  having  built  ships,  put  to 
"  sea;  and  being  driven  ashore  .near  mount  Casstus,  there  built  a 
"temple.  In  the  mean  time,  Uranus,  though  in  exile,  was  still 
"plotting  against  his  son  Chronus,  and  sent  him  three  of  his 
"  daughters,  Astarte,  Rhea,  and  Dionc,  on  purpose  to  cut  him  off. 
"  But  he  having  seized  upon  them,  took  them  into  the  number  of 
"  his  concubines,  as  he  had  done  Eimarmene  and  Hora,  who  were 
"  sent  to  him  upon  the  same  design.  He  had  seven  daughters 
«  by  Astarte,  named  Titanidx  or  Artemida;  and  two  sons,  Pathos 
"  and  Eros,  or  Desire  and  Love.  By  Rhea  he  had  seven  sons,  the 
"  youngest  of  them  (to  whom  the  author  gives  no  name)  was  ad- 
«  ded  to  the  number  of  the  Gods  at  the  very  moment  of  his  birth; 
"  that  is,  he  was  consecrated  to  the  Gods,  and  to  divine  service; 
"  he  had  likewise  some  daughters  by  Dione,  who  are  not  named. 
"  The  same  Chronus  or  Saturn,  had  in  Perm  three  sons,  Chronus 
«  after  the  name  of  his  father,  Zeus-Belus  and  Apollo.  Sydic  or 
"  the  just,  having  married  one  of  the  Titanide  above  mentioned, 
"  hod  a  son  by  her  named  Aaclejrius,*  who  was  contemporary  with 

*  Here  it  is  proper  to  remark,  that  Sydic,  being,  according  to  some  au- 


INTRODUCTION. 


PHENICIAN    COSMOGONY   AND   THE.OGONT. 

"  Pontus,  with  JVerua,  and  with  Ty/ihon.  Pontus  had  two  chil- 
dren; a  son  named  Poseidon  or  JVe/ttune;  and  a  daughter  called 
"  Sidon,  who  being  a  charming  singer,  was  the  first  who  corr- 
"  posed  odes.  Demaroon  was  father  to  Mi  licertus,  otherwise  ca'l- 
"  ed  Hercules.  Then  it  was  that  Uranus  engaged  in  a  new  war 
"  against  Pontus,  whom  he  had  deserted,  and  joined  with  Derm- 
«  roon;  who  fell  upon  Pontus  and  was  routed  by  him,  so  that  he  was 
"  obliged  to  make  a  vow  to  the  Gods  for  his  life.  Ilus,  that  is 
"  Chronus  or  Saturn,  in  the  thirty-second  year  of  his  reign,  hav- 
"ing  laid  an  ambuscade  for  his  father  Uranus  in  a  thicket  wa- 
"  tered  by  fountains  and  rivulets,  cut  his  privities  with  the  stroke 
"of  a  sabre;  and  in  that  very  place  was  Uranus  deified.  There  it 
"  was  he  gave  up  the  ghost,  and  there  they  shew  the  blood  that 
"issued  from  his  wound,  mingled  with  the  streams;  and  the 
"place  where  this  happened  is  still  to  be  seen. "t— After  some 
other  things,  the  author  thus  goes  on:  "  Axtarte  the  great,  Jufiit- 
"  er  Demaroon,  and  Adodus  the  king  of  Gods,  reigned  in  the 
"  country,  according  to  the  counsels  of  Chronus  or  Saturn.  As- 
"  tarte,  as  a  sign  of  her  royalty,  set  upon  her  head,  the  head  of  a 
"  bull.  Traversing  the  earth,  she  found  a  star  fallen  from  Heaven; 
"this  she  took  and  consecrated  in  the  holy  island  of  Tyre.  As- 
"  tarte,  according  to  the  Phenicians,  is  Afihrodite  or  Venus.  Chro- 
"  nus,  in  like  manner,  taking  the  touf  of  the  earth,  gave  his  daugh- 
"  ter  Athene  the  kingdom  of  Attica.  In  the  mean  time,  pestilence 
"  and  famine  having  arose,  Chronus  offers  up  to  his  father  Uranus 
"  his  son  Sadie,  and  circumcises  himself,  ordering  all  the  soldiers 
"of  his  army  to  do  the  same.  Some  time  after,  a  son  whom  he 


thors,  Shem,  the  son  of  JVoaA  or  Uranus,  he  must,  according  to  SANCHO- 
NIATHON,  have  passed  over  into  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  there  married 
a  daughter  of  Ham,  who  is  the  Chronus  of  this  author.  Jlsclepius,  his  son, 
is  the  only  one  of  Sydic's  children  whom  the  author  mentions; -for  he  con- 
cerned himself  only  for  his  own  country,  which  was  Phenicia,  peopled  by 
Sam  and  his  descendants. 

|  Here  then  (and  it  is  a  reflection  which  EUSEBIUS  has  subjoined  to 
the  recital  of  the  Phenician  author)  you  have  the  history,  of  Chronus  or 
Satuin,-  and  what  is  a  true  matter  of  fact  in  relation  to  a  prince,  whose 
reign  the  Greeks  have  looked  upon  as  so  happy,  that  of  it  they  have  made 
the  golden  age. 


INTRODUCTION. 


PHKMCIAN    COSMOGONY    AND    THEOGONY. 

«  had  by  Rh>-a,  called  Mouth,*  was  ranked  among  the  Gods.  Chro- 
Vnus  afterwards  gave  away  two  of  his  cities,  to  wit,  Byblos  to  the 
"Goddess  Baaltia  or  Dione,  Beryl  to  Neptune,  to  the  Cabiri,  to 
"'.he  Agroti  or  labourers,  and  to  the  fishers.  But  before  this  hap- 
pened, the  God  Thaautus  drew  the  portraiture  of  the  other 
"Gods — of  Saturn  or  Chronus,  of  Dagon,  8cc.  thence  to  form  the 
"sacred  characters  of  the  letters.  As  an  emblem  of  sovereignty, 
"  he  gave  Chronus  four  eyes,  two  before  and  two  behind.  Of 
"these  four  eyes  two  were  shut  while  the  other  two  were  awake. 
"  In  like  manner,  upon  each  shoulder  he  placed  a  pair  of  wings, 
"two  of  which  were  expanded,  the  others  remaining  in  a  state 
"  of  rest — his  design  being  to  represent  by  the  eyes,  that  C/iro- 
"nus,  when  gone  to  rest  was  still  awake,  and  while  awake  was  at 
«  rest;  and,  by  the  wings,  that  though  in  repose,  he  was  inces- 
"  santly  flying,  while  with  that  motion  he  enjoyed  undisturbed 
"tranquillity.  To  the  othei  Gods  he  gave  only  two  wings,  one 
"  upon  each  shoulder,  to  shew  that  they  were  only  to  be  upon  the 
"  wing  to  accompany  Chroruts.  He  likewise  added  to  the  figure 
"of  Chronus  two  wings  more  upon  the  crown  of  his  head;  the 
"  one  to  denote  the  superior  wisdom  of  his  government,  the  other 
"  to  point  out  the  delicacy  of  his  sensations.  Chronus  having  gone 
"to  the  country  of  the  South,  made  over  to  the  God  Thaautus 
« the  full  property  of  the  kingdom  of  Egypt." 

Such    is.  the  fragment  of  SANCHONIATHON*. 

^^"ft-lg!  After  havinS  translated  th>s  fragment,  PHILO  of 
ment.  Byblos  adds,  that  this  history  was  left  to  the  pos- 

"  terity  of  Sydic;  and  that  SANCHONIATHON  the 

son  of  Thabion,  after  he  had  turned  it  to  allegory,  and  interspersed 
it  with  some  physical  ideas  about  the  origin  of  the  world,  had  de- 
livered over  the  scheme  thereof  to  the  prophets  of  the  Orgies.— 
The  Greeks,  continues  the  same  translator,  who  in  refinement  of 
genius  excelled  all  other  nations,  appropriated  every  ancient  his- 
tory to  themselves,  exaggerated  and  embellished  them,  and  aimed 
at  nothing  but  to  amuse  by  their  narrations:  hence  they  have  turn- 
ed those  histories  into  quite  a  new  shape;  and  hence  it  is  that  HE- 


*  The  name  given  to  this  son  by  the  Greeks,  may  be  rendered  Plutt. 


INTRODUCTION. 


PHEN1C1AN    COSMOGONY   AND   THEOGOXY. 


SIOD  and  the  o:her  bistdrical  put-ts  iia-e  forced  hcogonie*,  gigan- 
tomachies,  titanomachies,  and  other  pieces,  by  which  they  have  in  a 
manner  stifled  the  truth.  Our  ears  accustomed  from  our  infancy 
to  their  fictions,  and  prepossessed  with  opinions  that  have  been  in 
vogue  for  several  ages,  retain  the  vain  impressions  of  those  fa- 
bles as  a  sacred  depositum.  And  because  time  has  insensibly 
rivetted  those  idle  tales  in  our  imaginations,  they  have  now  got 
such  fast  hold  thereof,  that  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  dislodge 
them.  Hence  it  comes  to  pass,  that  even  truth,  when  it  is  dis- 
covered to  men,  appears  to  have  the  air  of  falsehood,  while  fabu- 
lous narrations,  be  they  ever  so  absurd,  pass  for  the  most  authen- 
tic facts. 

•         As  I  shall  have  occasion  in  the  course  of  this 


tbe 

fragment.  by  that  author,  1  shall  subjoin  here  only  a   few 

==^=5=  reflections.  1st,  As  to  the  genuineness  of  this 
piece,  authors  are  greatly  divided;  some  maintaining  that  it  is 
really  the  Phenician  author's,  though  interpolated  by  PHILO  his 
translator,  and  intermixed  with  several  reflections  which  are  none 
of  SANCHONIATHON'S,  while  the  far  greater  number  have  always 
looked  upon  it  as  spurious.  The  celebrated  CUMBERLAND,  and 
M.  FOURMONT  the  elder,  are  the  two  writers,  who  have  main- 
tained its  genuineness  with  most  strength  and  learning.  In  the 
latter  especially,  you  may  see  the  history  of  the  opinions  of  the 
learned  upon  this  subject,  and  the  arguments  he  brings  to  refute 
them.  —  2d,  The  author  is  clearer  and  freer  from  interpolations 
as  to  those  ten  first  generations,  of  which  we  have  given  the  ta- 
ble, than  in  relation  to  those  that  followed  the  deluge,  where  we 
find  more  confusion,  and  less  connection,  although  it  is  easy  to 
see  he  was  willing  to  carry  them  as  far  down  as  to  the  family  of 
ABRAHAM,  and  to  some  of  his  descendants.  —  3d,  It  is  not  to  be 
doubted  but  S-ANCHOMATHOX  had  taken  the  idea  of  this  theogony 
from  traditions  of  very  great  antiquity,  though  they  had  been  al- 
ready corrupted  by  t!  e  Phenicians,  who  had  mixed  fictions  with 
them;  but  at  the  same  time  it  is  evident,  that  the  author  with  a 
view  to  gain  credit  to  idolatry,  has  said  nothing  of  the  genealo- 
gies before  the  deluge,  except  in  the  line  of  CAIN,  no  mention 
being  made  of  that  of  SETH.  —  4th.  Next  to  the  gaining  credit  to 
idolatry,  the  author's  main  scope  seems  to  have  been,  to  shew 


INTRODUCTION. 


EGYPTIAN   COSMOGONY  AND   THEOGONY. 


who  were  the  inventors  of  arts;  wherein  he  sometimes  agrees 
with  MOSES,  and  at  the  same  time,  gives  the  history  of  apotheo- 
ses; never  failing  to  point  out  those,  who  for  useful  inventions, 
had  been  ranked  among  the  Gods,  and  honoured  with  a  public 
worship;  whence  it  follows,  that  having  given  to  the  supreme 
being  little  or  no  share  in  the  formation  of  the  world,  his  cosmog- 
ony is  a  scheme  of  atheism. — 5th,  EUSKBIUS,  to  whom  we  are  in- 
debted for  this  fragment,  maintained  that  the  Phenician  cosmog- 
ony was  a  direct  introduction  to  d  theism;  and  in  this  he  is  followed 
by  the  famous  CUMBERLANDV  who  justly  considered  this  system 
concerning  the  origin  of  the  world,  as  solely  designed  to  apolo- 
gize for  the  idolatrous  worship  paid  to  different  parts  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  to  mere  mortals — THAAUTUS  having  involved  SAN- 
CHONIATHON,  his  copyer,  in  the  grossest  of  all  Pagan  darkness, 
which  is  to  leave  out  the  supreme  being  in  the  formation  and 
government  of  the  world,  and  having  attempted  to  introduce  the 
religion  of  the  Egyptians  and  Phenicians,  who  honored  the  crea- 
ture instead  of  the  Creator.  Yet,  a  celebrated  modern  contends, 
that  by  giving  a  favourable  interpretation  to  SANCHONIATHON'S 
words,  it  will  appear  evident  the  Phenicians  supposed  two  princi- 
ples, the  one  a  Chaos,  darksome  and  obscure;  the  other  a  wind, 
or  rather  an  intelligence  endued  with  goodness,  which  arranged 
the  world  into  its  present  order;  and  that  the  Phenician  author, 
by  saying  this  intelligence  knew  not  his  own  production,  means 
only  that  it  was  eternal,  and  had  never  been  produced.  But  this 
Phenician  cosmogony  being  taken  from  the  books  of  THAAUTUS, 
it  is  proper  to  suspend  our  judgment,  till  we  have  given  the 
Egyptian  cosmogony  and  theogony,  which  are  to  be  the  subject 
of  the  following  section. 


3d,  The  Cosmogony  and  Theogony  of  the  Egyptians. 

=        The  apologists  for  Christianity  were  obliged 

Cosmogony  and  tO ,search  into  the  earliest  antiquity  for  the  ori- 
Thcog-ony  the  gin  of  other  religions,  and  none  has  laboured 
most  ancient;—  herein  more  successfully  than  EysEiuusof  Ce- 
""",  sarea.  What  precious  remains  has  he  pre- 
served, which  must  have  been  destroyed  by  the  injuries  of  time* 


INTRODUCTION.  19 


EGYPTIAN   COSMOGONY   AND   THEOGONY. 


had  not  he  been  at  the  pains  to  collect  them  into  his  work!  Be- 
sides the  celebrated  fragment  we  have  spoken  of  in  the  last  sec- 
tion, we  owe  to  him  a  great  many  other  pieces  upon  the  ancient 
religion  of  the  Egyptians,  Greeks,  and  several  other  nations.  It 
is  in  his  works  we  can  trace — by  what  steps  idolatry  came  to  its 
growth — and  how  various  and  fluctuating  the  opinions  of  philoso- 
phers have  been  about  physical  principles,  and  about  the  origin  of 
the  world  in  particular.  The  fragment  we  have  just  now  tran- 
scribed, has  properly  a  regard  to  none  but  the  Phenicians;  but 
what  were  the  Gods  of  Phenicia  but  the  Gods  of  Egypt?  And 
•whence  ha^.  Greece  hers  according  to  HEUODOTUS,  PLATO,  PLU- 
TARCH, and  so  many  others,  but  from  Egypt  and  Phenicia?  SAN- 
CHONIATHON  appears  to  have  copied  THOT,  or  THAATUS:  now 
THOT  was  an  Egyptian,  and  the  most  learned  man  of  his  time. 
We  must  therefore  expect  to  find  the  ideas  of  the  Egyptians  as 
to  the  origin  of  the  world,  and  of  the  Gods,  to  be  pretty  near  the 
same  with  those  of  the  Phenicians  we  have  just  been  speaking 
of,  and  withal,  to  be  the  most  ancient  of  any  wherewith  tradition 
advises  us.  DIODORUS  SICULUS,  in  the  passage  I  am  now  going 
to  quote,  has  explained  ihem,  without  naming  however  the  Egyp- 
tians in  particular;  and  EUSEBIUS  seems  to  have  copied  him, 
though  the  chapter  where  he  treats  of  that  subject  be  intkled,. 
"  The  Cosmogony  of  the  Greeks"  But  we  know  that  these  had  it 
from  the  Egyptians. 

.  «  In  the  beginning,"    says  DIODORUS,  "  the 

explained  by  Di-  «  HEAVENS  and  the  EARTH  had  but  one  form, 
"  their  natures  being  blended  together;  but  being 
=^^^====^=  «  afterwards  separated,  the  WORLD  assumed  that 
"  orderly  disposition  which  we  now  see.  By  the  agitation  of  the 
"  az'r,  the  fiery  particles  mounted  upwards,  and  gave  the  Sun  the 
«  Moon  and  the  Slars  their  form,  lustre  and  circular  motion.  The 
"  solid  matter  sunk  downward  and  formed  the  earth  and  sca> 
"  whence  sprung  the  Jlshcs  and  animals — much  after  the  manner 
"  as  we  still  see  in  Egypt,  swarms  of  insects  and  other  animals 
"  spring  from  the  earth  that  has  been  overflowed  wit^h  the  waters 
«  of  the  Nile." — "  Chronus"  continues  DIODORUS,  "  having  mar- 
«  ried  Rhea,  became  according  to  some,  the  father  of  Isis  and 
"  Osiris,  and  according  to  others,  of  Jujiiter  and  Juno.  From  Ju- 
C 


20  INTRODUCTION. 


KGYPT1AN    COSMOGONY   A\D   THEOGONY. 


" fitter ^  according  to  the  latter,  sprung  five  other  gods,  Osiris,  Isis, 
"  Tiifihon*  sl/wllo,  and  Afihrodite  or  Venus.  Odris,  added  they,  was 
"the  same  with  Bacchus;  and  /«'* -the  same  with  Ceres.  Anubis  and 
»  Micedo  sprung  from  Apollo,  who  accompanied  Osiris  in  his 
"  conquests.  Osiris,  setting  out  on  his  expeditions,  left  in  his  room 
«  Busiris  his  brother;  upon  his  return  from  the  Indies,  Tyfihon  as- 
•'  s  is.-im-.ted  him,  and  they  deified  him  upon  .account  of  his  heroic 
"  ck-eds,  and  the  oxen  Apis  and  Mnrvis,  that  had  been  consecrated 
"to  him,  were  themselves  worshipped  as  Divinities.  But,  as  in 
"  apotheoses  they  frequently  changed  the  names  of  the  persons 
"  deified,  Osiris  was  called  Serafiis-Dionysius,  Pluto,  Jupiter,  Pan, 
"  &c.,  and  Isis  his  wife  who  was  also  ranked  among  the  Goddess- 
"  es,  was  worshipped  under  the  names  of  Tesmojihoros,  of  Selene 
"or  the  Moon,  of  Hera  or  Juno,  &c.;  Orus,  son  of  Isis,  and  the 
"  last  of  the  Gods,  having  escaped  the  ambuscades  of  the  Titans, 
"  reigned  over  Egypt,  and  after  his  death  was  numbered  with  the 
"  gods — ..ncl  it  is  he  whom  the  Greeks  named  Afiollo." — Indeed, 
according  to  SOCRATES,  whose  testimony  is  quoted  by  EUSEBIUS, 
the  Egyptians  struck  with  the  view  of  the  sun  and  the  other  lumi- 
nance, imagined  them  to  be  the  sovereigns  of  the  world,  and  the 
primary  deities  who  governed  the  same.  Accordingly  the  sun 
they  si yled  Osiris,  and  the  moon  they  called  his.  Osiris,  said  they, 
signifies, /K//  of  eyes,  or  extremely  quick-sighted:  Isis  is  the  same 
as,  the  ancient,  or  the  aged,  and  this  name  was  appropriated  to 

the  moon,  on  accoui  t  of  her  eternal  birth But  they  did  not  stop 

here:  when  one  has  set  out  in  the  dark,  he  loses  himself  in  propor- 
tion as  he  advances.  DK.DORUS  SICULUS  who  had  carefully  col- 
lected the  Egyptian  traditions,  tells  us,  their  great  Gods  were  the 
Sun;  Safurn;  R/iea;  Jupiter;  Juno;  Vulcan;  Vesta;  and  Mercury^ 
whom  they  reputed  the  last;  but  were  not  agreed  whether  the 
Sun  or  Vulcan  had  reignedj5r«?.  Here,  to  mention  it  by  the  by, 
are  the  eight  great  Gods  of  the  Egyptians,  of  whom  HERODOTUS 
spe  iks  several  times,  though  he  does  not  name  them. 

'    •          Such,  according  to  DIODORUS  SICULUS;  was 
the  COSM°Sony  and  theogony  of  the  Egyptians; 
and  it  is  easy  to  see  that  it  had  been  corrupted 
by   the  Greeks,   and  adapted  to  their  manner. 
EUSEBIUS  has  well  observed,  that  their  cosmogony,  as  well  as 
that  of  the  PheniJans  which  was  derived  from  the  same  origi- 


INTRODUCTION.  21 


EGYPTIAN    COSMOGONY    AN'D    THEOGONY. 


nal,  excludes  the  creator  from  having  any  hand  in  the  formation 
of  the  universe.  In  confirmation  of  his  judgment,  he  cites  a  pus- 
sage  of  PORPHYRY,  who,  in  his  epistle  to  ANEBO  the  Egyptian 
priest,  writes  that  CH.SREMON  and  others  believed  there  was  no- 
thing prior  to  this  visible  world;  that  the  filanets  and  sta.ru  were 
the  true  gods  of  the  Egyptians,  and  that  the  Sun  was  to  be  reck- 
oned the  artificer  of  the  universe:  and  it  is  proper  to  remark,  that 
this  is  the  amount  of  that  abstract  of  the  Egyptian  theology, 
given  by  DIOGENES  LAERTIUS,  who  had  himself  taken  it  from 
MANETHO  and  from  HECATJEUS,  who  before  him  had  said,  lint 
matter  was  theirs?  firinci/ilc,  and  the  xun  and  moon  the  first  Di- 
vinities of  that  ancient  people,  adored  by  them  under  the  names 

of   Osiris  and   Isis. It  is  worth   remarking,  however,  that  a 

modern  of  great  abilities,  Dr.  CUDWGRTH,  has  done  more  jus- 
tice to  the  Egyptians,  proving  from  EU^EBIUS  himself,  that  they 
believed  that  an  intelligent  being,  whom  they  named  Cnefih,  pre- 
sided over  the  formation  of  the  world.  They  represented  this  be- 
ing, according  to  PORPHYRY,  under  the  figure  of  a  man  holding 
a.  girdle  and  a  sce/ilre,  with  magnificent  plumes  upon  his  head, 
and  out  of  his  mouth  proceeded  an  egg,  from  which,  in  its  turn* 
proceed  another  god  whom  they  named  Phta,  and  the  Greeks 
Vulcan.  They  themselves  gave  the  explication  of  this  mysteri- 
ous fable.  The  plumes  that  overshadowed  his  head,  denoted  the 
hidden  invisible  nature  of  that  intelligence,  the  power  he  had  of 
communicating  life,  his  universal  sovereignty,  and  the  spirituality 
of  his  operations.  The  egg  which  proceeds  out  of  his  mouth,  sig- 
nified the  world  which  is  his  workmanship  These  same  people 
sometimes  represented  the  Divinity  under  the  emblem  of  a  ser- 
pent,  with  the  head  of  a  hawk,  which  by  opening  its  eyes  fills  the 
world  with  light,  and  by  shutting  them  covers  it  with  darkness. 
— The  opinion  of  this  modern  author  may  be  confirmed  by  the 
testimony  of  JAMBLICUS,  who  in  the  time  of  EUSEBIUS  had  ap- 
plied himself  much  to  the  study  of  the  ancient  Egyptian  theolo- 
gy, and  he  endeavours  to  make  good  what  CH.&REMON  hud  ad- 
vanced, that  they  did  not  generally  believe  that  an  inanimate  na- 
ture was  the  original  of  all  things;  but  that  in  the  world,  as  well 
as  in  ourselves,  they  acknowledged  a  soul  superior  to  nature,  und 
an  Intelligence  who  created  the  world,  supeiior  to  the  soul. — 
What  we  may  conclude  with  most  certainty  concerning  their  the- 


22  INTRODUCTION. 


THEOGONY  OF  THE  ATLANTID X. 


ogony,  is,  that  this  ancient  people  adored  two  sorts  of  Deities,  viz. 
the  Stars,  especially  the  Sun  and  Moon  of  the  one  part;  and  illustri- 
ous men,  of  the  other  part,  to  whom,  for  their  good  services,  they 
paid  a  religious  worship.  But  be  this  theology  drawn  from  the 
books  of  THAUT  or  THOT,  or  from  some  tradition  preserved  by 
the  Egyptian  priests,  still  we  are  sure  the  Greeks  formed  their 
system  upon  it,  as  we  shall  see  in  order. 


4th,  The  Theogony  of  the  Atlantide. 

DIODORUS  SICULUS  is  the  only  one  of  the  an- 

The  Atlantic!*    cients,  by  whom  the  T/ieogony  of  the  people  in 
claim  the    birth- 
place of  the  gods.    tlie  western  parts  of  Africa,  called  the  Atlanti- 

i  i  dae,  has  been  preserved  to  us.   As  these  people, 

says  he,  relate  some  things  concerning  the  origin  and  birth  of  the 
gods,  which  have  a  considerable  affinity  with  what  the  Greeks  them- 
selves say  of  them,  it  is  not  improper  to  repeat  them.  They  val- 
ued themselves,  continues  our  historian,  upon  their  being  pos- 
sessed of  a  country  that  had  been  the  birth-place  of  the  Gods, 
and  cited  for  a  proof  of  it,  that  part  of  HOMER  where  he  makes 
Juno  say,  she  was  going  to  the  extremities  of  the  earth,  to  visit 
Oceanus  and  Tethijs,  the  father  and  mother  of  the  Gods. 

Uranus,  or  Ccelus,  according  to  them,  was  their 
TitJa^deified—  ^rst  king:  ne  taught  his  subjects,  who  had  hith- 
their  progeny  the  erto  wandered  without  any  fixed  residence,  to 
live  in  society,  to  cultivate  the  ground,  and  to 
enjoy  the  blessings  it  afforded  them.  Uranus, 
applying  himself  to  astronomy,  regulated  the  year  by  the  course 
of  the  sun,  and  the  months  by  that  of  the  moon;  and  by  calcula- 
ting the  motions  of  the  stars  he  formed  predictions,  whose  ac- 
complishment astonished  the  Atlantidac  so  much,  that  they  be- 
lieved their  prince  had  somewhat  divine  about  him,  and  after  his 
decease  they  enrolled  him  among  the  Gods.  Uranus  had  by  seve- 
ral wives,  forty- five  children;  Tittea  alone  had  brought  him  eigh- 
teen. These  last  though  each  had  a  name  of  his  own,  went  by 
the  general  designation  of  Titan*,  from  that  of  their  mother. 
This  princess,  after  her  death,  received  likewise  divine  honours, 


INTRODUCTION. 


THEOGONY  OF  THE  ATLANTIDJE. 


and  the  earth  was  called  after  her  name}  as  Heaven  had  been  after 
that  of  her  husband. 

1  :         Among  the  daughters  of  Uranus  and   Titaa, 

Rhxa,  Hyperi-    ^he  two  eldest  distinguished  themselves  by  their 
on,  and  their  pro-  .  .  „.  *"  ~          . 

peny  persecuted    merit  and  virtue.  I  he  nrst  who  was  called  queen 

by  the  Titans—  by  way  of  eminence,  and  who  is  thought  to  have 
been  the  same  with  Rhea  or  Pandora,  took  great 
care  of  th'e  education  of  her  brothers  and  sisters; 
and  this,  DIODORUS  remarks  to  have  been  the  reason  of  calling 
her  the  Great  Mother.  This  princess,  who  had  always  professed 
great  chastity,  being  desirous  at  last  to  leave  heirs  to  her  father, 
married  Hyperion  her  brother,  and  by  him  had  two  children  Helion 
and  Selene,  who  distinguished  themselves  as  much  by  their  pru- 
dence and  wisdom,  as  they  were  remarkable  for  their  beauty. 
Their  uncles,  jealous  to  see  in  Helton  a  prince  so  perfect,  and  in 
Selene  all  the  beauty  of  her  sex  united  to' the  most  consummate 
wisdom,  and  fearing  that  the  empire  might  devolve  upon  them, 
assassinated  Hyperion,  and  flung  Helion  into  the  river  Po:  Selene, 
who  bore  the  most  tender  affection  to  her  brother,  threw  herself 
down  from  the  top  of  the  palace.  The  queen  seeking  her  son 
along  the  banks  of  the  river,  fell  asleep  through  fatigue  and  an- 
guish; and  saw  in  a  dream  Helion,  who  foretold  her  that  the  Titans 
•were  to  be  punished  for  their  cruelty,  and  she  and  her  children 
advanced  to  divine  honors;  that  the  celestial  fire  by  which  we  are 
enlightened,  should  henceforth  bear  the  name  of  Helion,  and  the 
planet  formerly  called  Mene,  should  take  the  name  of  Selene. 
Rhea  awaking,  related  her  vision;  ordered  divine  honours  to  be 
paid  to  her  children,  commanded  that  none  should  ever  touch  her 
body,  and  on  a  sudden,  seized  with  an  outrageous  madness,  ran 
all  over  the  fields  with  her  hair  dishevelled,  and  holding  cymbals 
in  her  hands,  whose  noise  mingled  with  her  howlings,  spread  ter- 
ror wherever  she  passed.  Her  subjects  seeing  their  queen  in 
such  a  deplorable  condition,  were  going  to  stop  her;  but  no  sooner 
had  a  presumptuous  hand  touched  her,  than  Heaven  gave  a  signal 
in  her  behalf — it  appeared  all  inflamed — a  violent  rain  uoured  down 
in  torrents,  accompanied  by  violent  peals  of  thunder,  when  the 
queen  -was  suddenly  snatched  out  of  sight!  After  this  event  the 
Atlantidae  conferred  divine  honours  upon  their  queen,  whom  they 


INTRODUCTION. 


THEOGONY   OP   THE   ATLANTID.E. 


named  the  great  mother  of  the    Gods,  and  woi  shipped  the  two 
great  luminaries  under  the  names  of  .Helton  and  Selene. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Titan  princes,  especially 
Saturn  and  Atlas^  after  the  death  of  their  father 


among  the  Titans  Uranus,  made  a  division  of  his  empire.  The 
-their  progeny.  western  parts  of  Africa  fej,  to  the  lastj  who  gave 

his  name  to  that  celebrated   mountain  that  has 
since  been  denominated  mount-Atlas:  and  this  prince  having  en- 
tirely devotqd  himself  to  astronomy  and  to  the  study  of  the  sphere, 
gave  rise  to  the  fiction  that  this  mountain  bore  up  the.  Heavens. 
Hesjierus  was  he  of  his  sons  who  distinguished  himself  most  by 
his  piety  and  other  virtues;  but  one  day  as  he  had  ascended  mount- 
Atlas  to  study  the  Heavens,  he  was  snatched  away  in  a  cloud,  and 
to  him  they  assigned  a  place  in  the  Star  that  bears  his  name,  and 
paid  him  the  same  honours  that  are  given  to  the  other  Gods.  —  To 
Atlan  were  born  seven  daughters,  named  the  Atlantida,  viz.  Mala, 
Electro.^  Taygete,  Asterope,  Merope,  Halcyone,  and  Celirno.    They 
were  all  married  either  to  heroes  or  Gods;  and  as  several  nations 
valued  themselves  for  having  derived  their  original  from  them, 
hence  they  came  to  be  placed  after  their  death  in  the  Heavens, 
•where  they  form  the  constellation  called  Pleiades.  The  Atlantidae 
were  far.   from  making  the   same  encomiums  on   Saturn,  who 
shared  the  empire  with  his  brother  Atlas:  for  he   was  cruel  and 
extremely  avaricious.     This  prince  married  his  sister  Rhea,  had 
by  her,  Jufiiter^vfho  was  surnamed  Olymfiius.  It  is  true  that  they 
acknowledged  another  Jupiter,  brother  to   Uranus,  and  king  of 
Crete,  but  far  less  celebrated  than  his  nephew,  who  after  he  had 
made  a  conquest  of  the  world,  and  conferred  many  blessings  upon 
mankind,  became  the  greatest  of  all  the  Gods. 
•  •  Such,  according  to  DIODORUS  SICULUS,  is  the 

th?  Ibov^Theo0"     The°SQny  of  the  Atlantidae,which  bears  a  consider- 
ony.  able  resemblance  to  that  of  the  Greeks;  though  it 

======    is  not  certain  whether  they  had  it  from  these  peo- 

ple of  Africa,  or  whether  these  learned  it  from  the  Greeks.  I  shall 
make  only  a  remark  or  two  upon  this  piece  of  history,  because  I  shall 
explain  it  in  the  history  of  the  Gods  of  Greece.  1st,  I  must  ob- 
serve what  is  very  surprising,  that  DIODORUS  makes  no  mention 
of  Neptune,  the  knowledge  and  worship  of  whom,  according  to 
HERODOTUS,  came  into  Greece  from  Libya,  where  he  was  known 


INTRODUCTION.  25 


GREKK    COSMOGONY    AND   THEOGONY. 


and  worshipped  from  time  immemorial.  3d,  Th«t  he  says  as  little 
about  Tritonian  Minerva,  v,  hom.the  ancients  believed  to  have  been 
born  upon  the  banks  of  Lake  Triton  in  ATuca,  and  who  must 
likewise  have  been  known  to  the  Atlantidae. 


5th,  The  Cosmogony  and  Theogony  of  the  Greeks. 


.    ,  Greece  never  had  but  a  very  confused  idea  of 

Errors  of  the     the  history  of  her  own  religion.  Devoting  herself 

sources  "f  ^heir     implicitly  to  her  ancient  poets,  in  this  so  impor- 

Theogony.  tant  an  article,  she  looked  upon  them  as  her  first 

========^==    divines;  while  these  poets,  as  STRABO  judiciously 

remarks,  whether  from  ignorance  of  antiquity,  or  from  flattery  to 
the  Greek  princes,  had,  in  complaisance  to  them,  contrived  all  the 
genealogies  of  their  Gods  so  as  to  make  it  be  believed  that  they 
were  descended  from  them.  Thus  whenever  we  meet  with  any 
hero  in  their  works,  we  need  not  trace  far  back  till  we  find  at  the 
head  of  his  genealogy,  a  Hercules,  a  Jufiitcr,  or  some  other  God. 
That  foolish  humour  of  laying  claim  to  great  antiquity,  betrays 
iiself  in  almost  every  people;  but  never  were  any  so  intoxicated 
•with  it  as  the  Greeks.  Thus  it  is  surprising  to  see  them,  who  could 
not  but  know  that  they  had  received  several  colonies  from  Egypt 
and  Phenicia,  and  by  them  their  Gods  and  the  ceremonies  of  their 
religion,  still  pretending  that  these  same  Gods  were  originally 
from  Greece;  for  this  is  the  amount  of  the  whole  system  of  their 
poets.  Two  or  three  words  of  HERODOTUS,  who  says,  that  the 
Gods  of  the  Greeks  came  from  Egypt,  are  preferable  to  all  that 
the  poets  have  delivered  upon  this  subject.  Be  that  as  it  will,  we 
shall  take  a  view  of  their  Theogony,  in  which  ORPHEUS  and  HE- 
SIOD  shall  be  our  vo'uchers;  for  it  is  plain,  the  other  poets  who 
came  after,  have  done  no  more  than  copied  them.  It  is  true,  none 
of  OUPHEUS'S  works  are  now  extant;  but  his  testimony  may  be 
gathered— 1st,  from  the  Pythagorean  fi/iiloxofihers,  who  renewed 
this  doctrine;  2d,  from  a  manuscript  of  Dam.ascius*  cited  by  CUM- 
BERLAND, and  by  CUDWORTH;  3d,  from  an  abstract  of  Or/iheus's 
Cosmogony,  done  by  TIMOTHEUS,  a  writer  on  chronology.  These 
are  the  sources  whence  we  shall  borrow  the  system  of  this  ancient 
poet. 


26  INTRODUCTION. 


GREEK    COSMOGONY   AND   THEOGONY. 


Very  different  accounts  are  given  of  the  Cos- 
m°S°ny  and  "Thefgany  of  ORPHKUS.  As  it  was  he 
ORPHEUS.     "          who  first  introduced  among  the  Greeks,  the  reli- 
======    gious  rites  of  paganism,  some  have  accused  him 

of  having  invented  the  names  of  the  Gods,  and  forged  their  gene- 
alogies; adding,  that  in  this  he  has  been  imitated  by  HOMER  and 
HESIOD.  *DAMASCIUS,  in  that  same  manuscript  I  just  mentioned, 
says,  he  represented  one  of  the  principles  of  the  world,  under  the 
figure  of  a  dragon,  with  one  head  of  a  bull,  and  another  of  a  lion, 
with  the  face  of  a  god  between  them,  and  on  his  shoulders  wings 
of  gold.  However,  notwithstanding  this  extravagant  assertion,  he 
was  looked  upon  to  be  a  profound  philosopher,  and  a  man  endued 
\vith  inspiration;  and  by  the  help  of  allegory,  they  found  out,  in 
this  same  whimsical  device,  the  sublimest  of  mysteries.  Though 
it  appears  from  what  the  ancients  have  quoted  of  this  poet,  that  he 
is  to  be  considered  as  the  apostle  of  polytheism;  yet  several  learned 
men  are  persuaded  of  his  having  acknowledged  one  God,  supreme 
and  uncreated,  the  author  of  the  universe;  and  they  found  their 
opinion,  not  only  upon  that  high  esteem  he  held  in  the  sects  of 
philosophers  who  set  most  up  for  religion,  namely,  the  Pythago- 
reans or  Platonists;  but  also  because  it  was  probably  from  his  writ- 
ings that  these  two  sects  derived  their  ideas  in  philosophy  and 
divinity.  This  opinion,  advantageous  for  ORPHEUS,  has  a  better 
foundation,  if  credit  be  given  to  the  abstract  of  TIMOTHEUS;  for 
we  learn  from  him,  that  this  ancient  poet,  in  describing  the  gene- 
ration of  the  Gods,  the  creation  of  the  world,  and  the  formation 
of  man,  had  advanced  nothing  near  ^so  extravagant  as  what  some 
authors  have  laid  to  his  charge.  According  to  that  abridgment, 
ORPHEUS'S  Theogony  amounts  nearly  to  this: — In  the  beginning 
God  formed  the  JEther,  or  the  Gods,  and  on  every  side  of  the 
Mther  there  was  a  Chaos,  and  night  covered  all  that  was  under  the 
JEther  (meaning  thereby  that  night  was  prior  to  the  creation);  that 
the  earth  was  invisible  by  reason  of  the  obscurity  that  covered  it; 
but  that  the  light  darting  through  the  Mther,  enlightened  the 
whole  world.  This  is  that  light  he  calls  the  eldest  of  all  beings,  to 
\vhich  an  oracle  had  given  the  names  of  counsel,  light,  fountain  of 
life.  TIMOTHEUS  adds,  that  according  to  the  doctrine  of  ORPHEUS, 
it  was  by  the  power  of  this  being,  all.  the  other  immaterial  beings, 
as  also  the  Sun,  the  Moon,  8cc.,  were  created.  That  mankind  were 


INTRODUCTION.  27 


GREEK    COSMOGONY    AND   THEOGONY, 


formed  from  the  earth  by  the  same  divinity,  and  received  from, 
thence  a  reasonable  soul.  But  what  is  more  particularly  observa- 
ble as  to  the  doctrine  of  this  ancient  poet,  is,  that  he  was  the  first 
who  taught  the  Greeks  the  doctrine  of  the  firimiti-ve  egg,  whence 
all  other  beings  proceeded;  an  opinion  very  ancient,  which  without 
doubt  he  had  learned  from  the  Egyptians,  who,  as  well  as  several 
other  nations,  represented  the  world  under  this  emblem.  The  Phe- 
nicians  gave  their  Sofihasemim  the  form  of  an  egg,  and  made  use 
of  this  representation  in  their  orgies.  The  same  symbol  was  em- 
ployed by  the  Chaldeans,  the  Persians,  the  Indians,  and  even  the 
Chinese;  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  this  was  the  primary  opinion 
of  all  those  who  undertook  to  explain  the  formation  of  the  world. 
In  fine,  TIMOTHEUS  asserts,  that  ORPHEUS  had  published  another 
piece,  wherein  he  taught,  that  all  things  had  been  produced  by  one 
sole  God,  who  had  three  names,  and  this  God  was  himself  all 
things. 

But  whatever  be  in  that,  for  it  is  a  very  easy 
Remarks  on  the  .    . 

above,  matter  to  palm  opinions  upon  an  author  ol  such 

•  antiquity,  and  whose  writings  possibly  were  lost 
long  before  TIMOTHEUS  wrote  in  his  behalf;  one  thing  is  certain 
that  the  primitive  fathers  of  the  church  preferred  the  Theology 
of  ORPHEUS  to  that  of  any  other  Pagan;  whence  it  should  seem,  if 
that  ancient  poet  introduced  polytheism,  he  did  it  rather  in  com- 
pliance with  the  gross  conceptions  of  those  he  had  a  mind  to 
civilize,  than  that  he  was  convinced  of  the  thing.  The  Orp/ucs, 
that  is,  the  mysteries  established  by  ORPHEUS,  at  least  if  they  be 
taken  according  to  the  system  of  PROCLUS  the  Platonic  philoso- 
pher, form  likewise  another  kind  of  Theogony.  According  to  these 
philosophers,  ORPHEUS  believed  the  government  of  the  world  had 
not  always  belonged  to  the  same  God,  but  that  six  of  them  had 
successively  contended  for  it,  and  wrested  it  out  of  one  another's 
hands.  Phanes  had  been  invested  with  it  in  his  turn;  and  this 
Phanes  was  no  other  than  the  Egyptian  Bacchus,  that  is  to  say, 
Osiris* 

•    •  •  Now  we  come  to  the  Theogony  of  JHESIOD,  of 

The  Theogony     which  the  following  is  an  abstract.   In  the  begin- 
ef  HESIOD — 1st,        .  ... 

The  line  of  Chaos,    ning  was  the  CHAOS;  after  this,  Terra  or  the  Earth; 

then  Love,  the  fairest  of  the  immortal  Gods. 
D 


28  INTRODUCTION. 


GREEK    COSMOGONY   AND  THEOGONY. 


CHAOS  engendered  Erebus  and  Nox;  from  whose  mixture  was 
born  JEther,  and  the  Day. 

TERRA  formed  afterwards  Ccelus  or  Heaven; 
and  lhe  Stars>  the  mansion  of  the  immortal  Gods. 
She  likewise  formed  the  mountains;  and  by  her 
marriage  with  Cadus,  she  brought  forth  Oceanus  the  Ocean;  and 
by  him  Ca?us,  Creius,  Hyperion,  Japetus,  Then,  Rhea,  Themis, 
Mnemrjsyne,  Phoebe,  Tethys  and  Saturn.  She  engendered  likewise 
the  Cyclops  Brontes,  Steropes,  and  Arges,  who  forged  the  thun- 
der that  Juf liter  was  armed  with.  These  Cyclops  resembled  the 
other  Gods  in  every  thing,  except  that  they  had  but  one  eye  in 
the  middle  of  their  forehead.  Ccelus  and  TERRA  had  other  children* 
as  the  proud  Titans,  Coitus,  Briareus,  and  Gyges  who  had  an 
hundred  hands,  and  fifty  heads.  In  the  mean  time  Ccelus  kept  his 
sons  so  close  shut  up,  that  they  were  not  allowed  to  see  the  day; 
which  was  so  very  afflicting  to  their  mother  TERRA,  that  having 
forged  a  scythe,  Saturn  seized  it,  and  laying  in  ambuscade,  sur- 
prised Ccelus  as  he  was  coming  to  lie  with  TERRA,  and  cut  off  his 
pi  hides.  Of  the  blood  that  came  from  the  wound,  were  formed  the 
giants,  furies  and  nymphs;  and  these  same  parts  being  thrown 
into  the  sea,  and  mixing  with  the  foam,  gave  birth  to  the  beau- 
tiful Venus  who  took  up  her  residence  at  Cythera.  They  named 
her  Aphrodite,  because  she  was  born  of  the  sea  foam;  Cyprina, 
because  it  was  near  the  isle  of  Cyprus  she  had  her  birth;  and 
Cythera,  because  she  came  first  into  the  island  of  that  name. 
Love  and  Cupid  were  her  inseparable  companions,  and  this  God- 
dess became  the  darling  of  Gods  and  men.  In  the  mean  time, 
Ccelus  was  continually  at  odds  with  the  Titans  his  sons,  and 
threatening  to  punish  them. 

•      Farther,  Nox  of  herself  alone,  without  the  in- 

jVox' lhC  lmeof    tervention  of  any  other  God,  brought  forth  the 
-     •  hateful  Destiny,   and  the   black   Parca;  More, 

Soumus,  and  Dreams  of  all  sorts;  then  Momus,  jErumna  or  Anxi- 
ety, accompanied  with  pain  and  discontent;  the  Hesperides,  who 
have  the  keeping  of  the  golden  apples,  and  of  the  trees  that  bear 
them  on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean;  the  three  Parcse,  or  destinies, 
as  Clotho,  Lachesis,  and  Atropos,  the  unrelenting  Goddesses  who 
spin  out  our  days,  and  are  always  ready  to  avenge  the  crimes  of 
Gods  and  men;  Nemesis,  the  eternal  bane  of  human  kind;  Fraud, 


INTRODUCTION.  29 


GREEK   COSMOGONY   AND    THEOGONY. 


Old  Age,  and  Discord  who  brought  into  the  world  painful  travail, 
oblivion,  pestilence,  and  doleful  sorrows,  bloody  battles,  slaughters, 
massacres,  and  all  the  scenes  of  human  destruction,  quarrels, 
dissentions,  false  and  treacherous  speeches,  contempt  of  lavts, 
knavery,  and  the  oath  that  often  brings  the  greatest  ruin  upon  the 
perjured. 

^  PONTUS,  from  his  commerce  with  Terra,  had 

pmtus  the  just  JVereus,  Tliaumas,  Phorcys,  the  beauti- 

"  ful  Ceto,  and  Eurybia.    From  .\~ereus  and  Doris 

the  daughter  of  Oceanus,  came  the  Nereids,  to  the  number  of  fifty. 
Thaumas  wedded  Electra  daughter  of  Oceanus,  who  was  mother 
of  Iris,  and  of  the  Harpies  slello,  and  Ocypete.  Phorcys  by  Ceto 
had  Pephrcdo  and  Enyo,  who  got  the  name  of  Graiae,  because 
they  had  gray  hairs  from  their  birth;  he  had  likewise  by  the"  same 
marriage,  the  three  Gorgons,  Stheno,  Euryale,  and  Medusa  from 
•whose  blood,  when  Perseus  had  cut  off  her  head,  sprung  the  horse 
Pegasus,  and  Chrysaor  who  having  married  Callirhoe,  daughter  of 
Oceanus,  had  by  her,  Geryon  with  his  three  heads.  The  same 
Callirhoe  brought  forth  a  monster  that  neither  resembled  Gods 
nor  men,  Echidna,  the  one  half  of  whose  body  was  that  of  a  lovely 
-nymph,  the  other  half  a  serpent,  ugly  and  terrible.  Though  the 
God  kept  her  imprisoned  in  a  den  in  Syria,  yet  by  Typhon,  she 
conceived  Oreus,  Cerberus,  the  Hydra  of  Lerna,the  Chimara  whom 
JRellerophon  slew,  the  S/ihinoc  who  occasioned  so  many  disasters 
to  Thebes,  the  Lion  of  Nemea,  put  to  death  by  Hercules.  Phorcys 
had  also  by  Ceto,  the  Dragon  that  kept  the  garden  of  the  Hesfierides. 
•  •  §TETHYS  had  by  Oceunus,  all  the  rivers,  the  Nile, 

jLffag     '  Alpheus,  Sec.  and  a  great  many  nymphs   who  in- 

=====  habit  the  fountains  and  floods.  Here  the  poet 
enumerates  several  of  these  nymphs,  and  says,  there  were  three 
thousand  of  them,  answering  to  the  same  number  of  rivers,  all 
the  offspring  of  Oceanus  and  TETHYS. 

We  reckon  as  the  descendants  of  THE  A  by  her 

6th,  The  line  of    Brother  Hyperion,  the   Sun,    the  Moon,   and  the 
fair  Aurora. 

CREIUS  by   his   marriage  with  Eurybea,  had 
-dstreus,  Perses,    and    Pallas.     A,trfUS,    having 
matched  with  Aurora,  begat  the    Winds,  Lucifer 
that  beautiful  morning  star,  and  the  other  Stars  that  adorn  the 


30  INTRODUCTION. 


GREEK  COSMOGONY  AND   THEOGONY. 


Heavens.  From  the  conjunction  of  Pallas  with  Styx,  the  daughter 
of  Oceanus  and  Tethys,  were  born  Zelun,  the  fair  Nice,  Force  and 
Violence,  the  inseparable  companions  of  Jupiter;  for  when  this 
God  wanted  to  be  avenged  of  the  Titans,  and  called  all  the  Gods 
to  his  assistance,  Styx  was  the  first  that  arrived  at  Olympus  with 
her  sons;  which  pleased  Jupiter  so  much,  that  he  conferred  high 
honours  upon  this  Goddess,  loaded  her  with  presents,  ordered  her 
name  to  be  used  in  the  inviolable  oath  of  the  Gods,  and  kept  her 
children  with  him. 

=       PHOEBE  had  by  Caeusthe  charming  Latona,  and 
Ph^lg  wisteria.  Some  time  afterwards  dsteria  was  mar- 

~  ried  to  Perscs,  and  became  the  mother  of  the 

renowned  Hecate)  whom  Jupiter  honoured  above  any  other 
Goddess,  giving  her  an  absolute  power  over  earth,  sea,  and  heaven, 
insomuch  that  there  is  never  a  sacrifice  or  prayer  offered  to  the 
Gods  without  invoking  her.  She  presides  over  war,  over  the 
councils  of  kings,  and  bestows  victory  in  battles. 
~9tli  The  line  of  ^HEA  having  united  with  Saturn,  had  by  him 
Jihea.  illustrious  children;  as  Vesta,  Ceres,  Juno,  Pluto, 

=i====  Neptune,  and  Jupiter  the  father  of  Gods  and 
ii:  en:  but  Saturn,  learning  from  an  oracle  delivered  by  Calus  and 
7'<r."c,  that  one  of  his  children  should  dethrone  him,  devoured 
them  as  RHEA  brought  them  forth;  which  threw  her  into  extremi- 
ty of  affliction:  so  that  when  she  was  near  her  time  of  being  de- 
livered of  Jupifer,  she  consulted  her  parents  to  know  in  what 
manner  she  might  rescue  him  from  the  cruelty  of  his  father,  and 
by  their  advice  she  secretly  withdrew  into  Crete,  where  she  was 
delivered;  and,  instead  of  the  child,  presented  Saturn  with  a  stone 
wrapped  about  with  swaddling  clothes,  which  he  swallowed. 
Jupiter  being  grown  up,  delivered  Calus,  whom  Saturn  had  loaded 
with  chains.  Calus,  in  return  for  this  service,  gave  him  thunder) 
whereby  he  became  the  sovereign  of  Gods  and  men. 

=         In  the  mean  time,  JAPETUS  having  wedded 
j£SwThe  lme  °f    Clymene  daughter  of  Oceanus,  she  brought  into 


the  world  Atlas,  AIenetius,ll\e  artful  Prometheus, 
and  the  foolish  Epimetheus.  Menetius,  who  was  defiled  with  va- 
rious crimes,  Jupiter  crushed  with  a  thunder-bolt  and  sent  him 
down  into  Hell;  Atlas  he  employed  in  propping  the  Heavens  with 
his  shoulders,  in  the  country  of  the  Hcsperides^i  the  extremities 


INTRODUCTION.  31 


GREEK  COSMOGONY   AND  THEOGONY. 


of  the  earth;  and  Prometheus  he  bound  fast  to  a  pillar  with  strong 
chains,  an  eagle  continually  preying  upon  his  liver  by  day,  while 
it  is  renewed  by  growth  every  ni^bt,  as  a  punishment  for  putting 
a  cheat  upon  the  God  in  a  sacrifice  he  offered  him. 
=======         HESIOD,  after  this,  gives  an  account  of  the 

j'^and^th0/ Ti"     war  °^  Jllfliter  against  his  father  Saturn  and  the 
tans  at  Mount  O-     Titans,  over  whom  the  father  of  the  Gods  having 

lympus. gained  the  victory,  drove  them  from  Olympus; 

and  condemned  to  the  bottom  of  Tartarus-,  in  the 
extremities  of  the  earth,  Coitus,  Gyges,  and  Briareus.  Neptune 
took  the  last  to  be  his  son-in-law,  giving  him  in  marriage  his 
daughter  Cymopolia.  In  the  mean  time,  Terra,  having  matched 
with  Tartarus*  brought  forth  the  last  of  her  sons,  Typhon,  on 
whose  shoulders  grew  an  hundred  serpents  heads.  Fire  flashed 
from  their  eyes,  and  dreadful  voices  issued  from  every  mouth. 
Heaven  was  in  danger,  and  Jupiter  himself  was  threatened  with 
the  loss  of  his  empire;  but  the  God  arrayed  with  thunder,  over- 
threw the  presumptuous  Giant,  and  plunged  him  headlong  into 
the  bottom  of  Tartarus.  This  is  that  Typhon,  to  whom  the  winds 
owe  their  original,  except  Notus,  Boreas,  and  Zephyrus,  who  are 
the  offspring  of  the  Gods. 

•  JUPITER  now  established  in  the  peaceful  pos- 
sessi°n  °f  Olympus,  and  in  dominion  over  the 
Gods,  took  to  wife  Metis,  a  Goddess  who  sur- 
"passed  all, both  Gods  and  men,  in  knowledge.  But  when  she  was 
about  to  be  delivered  of  Minerva,  JUPITER  informed  that  she  was 
to  have  a  son,  for  whom  the  sovereignty  of  the  universe  was  or- 
dained, swallowed  the  mother  and  the  child,  that  he  might  learn 
from  her  good  and  evil.  After  this  he  married  Themis,  who 
brought  forth  the  three  seasons  or  Horae,  Eunomia,  Dice,  and 
Irene;  also  the  three  Destinies,  Clot  ho,  Lachesis,  and  Atropos. 
He  had  likewise  by  Eurynone  daughter  of  Oceanus,  the  three 
Graces,  Aglaia,  Euphrosine,  and  Thalia;  and  by  Ceres  he  had  Pro- 
serpina, whom  Pluto  carried  off.  Being  enamoured  of  Mnemosyne, 
he  made  her  mother  to  the  nine  Muses.  Latona  bore  him  Apollo 
and  Diana.  In  fine,  his  last  wife  was  Juno,  who  made*  him  father 
to  Hebe,  Mars,  and  Lucina.  She  also  brought  forth  Vulcan,  but  at 
the  moment  of  his  birth  she  fell  out  with  her  husband,  who  had 
none  upon  his  side  but  the  snge  Minerva,  having  produced  her 


32  INTRODUCTION. 


GREEK    COSMOGONY   AND   THEOGONY. 


from  his  brain.  Vulcan  married  Aglaia  the  youngest  of  the  Graces. 
Maia,  daughter  of  A'ias,  became  mother  of  Mercury  by  JUPITER; 
who  had  likewise  Bacchus  by  Semele  the  daughter  of  Cadmus; 
and  Hercules  by  Alcmena.  Bacchus  married  Ariadne  daughter  of 
Minos;  and  Hercules,  after  his  deification,  married  the  youthful 
Hebe,  daughter  of  JUPITER  and  Juno. 

~  NEPTUNE  had  Triton  by  Amphitrite;  and  Venus 

had  by  Mzfl9'  r<?rror  and  Fcar  who  accompany 
this  God  in  battles,  and  the   fair  Harmonia  the 

wife    of   Cadmus.      The  fair  Perseis  to  the  Sun,  bore  Circe,  and 

JEetes  who,  by  the  advice  of  the  Gods,  wedded  the  charming  Idyia 

daughter  of  Oceanus,  by  whom  he  had  Medea. 

•  •  "    '  After  this  account  of  the  genealogies  of  the 

scended  ^fdmOT-  Gods'  HESIOD  takes  notice  of  the  children  born 
tal  men  and  God-  by  Goddesses  to  mortal  men,  who  were  adopted 
desses- into  the  number  of  the  Gods.  Ceres  became  mo- 
ther of  Plutus,  the  God  of  riches.  Harmonia, 
Venus's  daughter,  had  by  Cadmus,  Ino,  Semele,  Agave,  and  Auto- 
noe  who  married  Aristeus  and  Polydorus.  Chrysaor  had  by  the 
beautiful  Callirhoc  daughter  of  Oceanus,  the  gigantic  Geryon, 
who  was  worsted  by  Hercules.  Aurora  bore  to  Tithonus,  Memnon 
king  of  Egypt,  and  Hemathion;  and  to  Cephalus,  Phteton,  (not  the 
same  mentioned  by  Ovid)  who  was  so  dear  to  Venus.  Jason  hav- 
ing married  Medea  the  daughter  of  ^Etes,  by  her  had  Medus. 
Psamathe,  one  of  th  Nereids,  marrying  ^Eacus,  became  mother 
to  Phocus.  Thetis,  Peleus's  spouse,  bore  to  him  Achilles;  and 
Anchises  had  by  Venus  the  pious  ^Eneas,  in  the  woods  of  mount 
Ida.  Circe,  daughter  to  the  Sun,  hud  by  Ulysses,  Agnus  und  La- 
tinus.  Lastly,  Calyfiso  brought  the  same  Ulysses  two  sons,  Nau- 
sithous  and  Nausinous. 
..»••  •  .  "  HESIOD,  also  has  it,  that  the  men  of  the  golden 

14th,  The  De-    age  became  Demrms,  or  good  Genii;  these  accord- 
mons  and  Genii.       ...  . 

ing  to  him,  are  the  guardians  ot  men,  the  earth 

having  fallen  to  th  ir  iot.  Those  of  the  silver  age 
were  changed  into  Manes,  or  subterraneous  Genii,  happy  though 
mortal.  Those  of  the  brazen  age  went  dov\n  to  the  infernal  re- 
gions. In  fine  those  of  the  heroic  age  took  possession  of  the  for- 
tunate islands,  or  the  Elysian  fielda,  biluateti  at  the  extremities 
of  the  world. 


INTRODUCTION. 


GREEK    COSMOGONY   AND   THEOGONY. 


• ARISTOPHANES,  whom  PLATO  in  his  Banquet, 

The  Theog-ony  QS  we  jlave  observed,  introduces  in  delivering 
logue,  The  Ban-  the  fable  of  the  Androgines,  has  also  wrought  into 
V'tet-  his  comedy  of  the  birds,  the  substance  of  the 

Greek  theogony  and  cosmogony,  with  more  me- 
thod and  perspicuity  than  HESIOD. — In  the  beginning,  as  he 
makes  one  of  his  actors  speak,  were  the  Chaos,  the  black  Erebus, 
and  the  vast  Tartarus;  but  as  yet  there  was  neither  earth,  nor  air, 
nor  heavens.  JVight,  with  her  sable  wings,  laid  the  first  egg  in  the 
wide  womb  of  Erebus,  whence  sprung  after  some  time,  benefi- 
cent Lo-ve,  adorned  with  golden  wings.  From  the  union  of  Lo-ve 
with  Chaos,  arose  men  and  animals.  Farther,  the  Gods  had  not  a 
being  till  all  things  were  mingled  together  by  Love;  and  from  this 
commixion  were  engendered  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  as  well 
as  the  race  of  the  immortal  Gods. — This  theogony,  inserted  in  a 
comedy  by  way  of  derision,  undoubtedly  made  a  part  of  some  an- 
cient system,  whose  author  is  unknown. 

.  •  There  is  yet  a  fourth  Greek  theogony,  which 

The  Theogony    mav  \^G  drawn  from  an  author  very  ancient,  if  it 
ot  PRONAPIDES 
the  preceptor  of    be  true  that  it  was  followed  by  PRONAPIDES  the 

HOMER.  preceptor  of  HOMER,  as  is  alleged  by  BOCCACE} 

=^~======^==  from  a  fragment  of  THEODONTIUS,  which  prob- 
ably was  extant  in  his  time.  According  to  this  ancient  theogony, 
the  most  reasonable  of  all,  there  was  but  one  sole  GOD  the  ETER- 
NAL, by  whom  all  the  other  Gods  were  produced.  It  was  not  al- 
lowed to  give  any  name  to  this  first  being,  and  none  was  able  to 
declare  his  name.  ANAXAGORAS  thought  he  gave  some  definition 
of  him  in  calling  him  THE  MIND.  However,  as  the  most  simple 
ideas  have  through  time  been  altered,  LACTANTIUS,  a  scholiast 
upon  STATIUS,  calls  this  sovereign  being  Daimogorgon,  as  the 
author  I  have  quoted  does  after  THEODONTIUS;  a  name  which 
imports  the  Genius  <]f  the  earth,  and  which,  by  the  description 
they  give  of  this  God,  as  shall  be  seen  in  its  place,  answers  but 
indifferently  to  the  idea  the  first  philosophers  formed  of  him— u 
for  Daimogorgon  as  well  as  jlchlys,  in  their  system,  had  a  being 
before  the  world,  even  before  Chaos  itself.  Their  Atmon,  their 
Hy/isistus,  have  an  existence  before  heaven,  whom  the  Latins  call 
Cains,  and  the  Greeks  Ouranos.  Nay  more,  according  to  them, 
Terra,  Tartarus,  and  Love  were  prior  to  Cclus,  since  HESJOD,  as 


34       -  INTRODUCTION. 


GHEKK   COSMOGONY    AND     THEOGONY. 


we  see,  makes  him  even  the  son  of  Terra.  Acmon  is  taken  for 
the  father  of  Ctrlus,  by  PHORNUTUS,  HESYCHIUS,  and  SIMMIAS 
of  Rhodes,  his  scholiast;  and  the  same  Acmon  is  the  son  of  Manes 
in  POLYHISTOK,  and  in  STEPHANUS.  Ccelus  was  father  first  of  the 
Hecatoncheires,  next  of  the  Cyclo/is,  then  of  the  Titans,  and  Sa- 
turn, who,  in  his  turn,  became  father  to  the  other  Gods.  Next 
came  the  earth-born  Giants,  and  the  last  of  them  is  Tyfihon.  Af- 
ter the  Gods  and  Giants,  quite  different  as  we  see  from  the  Ti- 
tans, who  were  the  Gods  of  the  race  of  Ccelus,  came  the  demi- 
Gods,  from  the  commerce  of  Gods  with  womenj  or  of  Goddesses 
with  men. 
==============        1  should  no  doubt  be  censured,  if,  after  what 

The  Theology     j  jiave  sa^  m  ^jg  sccljon  concerning  ORPHEUS 
copied  as  it  were  T 

by  HOMER.  and  HESIOD,  and  some  other  Greek  poets,   I 

==^=i====:  should  take  no  notice  of  HOMER,  who,  in  both 
his  poems,  has,  with  so  much  apparatus,  employed  the  same 
Gods  with  ORPHEUS  and  HESIOD;  but  it  is  observable,  that  this 
great  poet  had  no  design,  like  the  other  two,  to  deliver  a  system 
of  these  Gods,  but  only  to  apply  the  theology  of  his  time  as  he 
found  it.  HOMER,  as  the  Abbe  FRAGUIER  judiciously  remarks,  is 
no  more  than  a.  poet:  if  he  assumes  the  theologue,  as  in  effect  he 
does  by  bringing  in  his  Gods,  and  using  their  agency  on  all  occa- 
sions, he  is  only  so  occasionally,  and  by  no  means  as  a  systemat- 
ic. And  what  is  this  but  to  be  a  poet?  It  is  to  act  the  painter,  or 
the  imitator:  the  object  is  none  of  his  production,  he  only  copies 
the  likeness,  and  draws  the  picture.  Whatever  his  own  private 
sentiments  \\eie  about  his  Gods,  as  he  speaks  of  them  with  a 
view  to  please  and  to  be  intelligible,  he  would  not  recede  from 
the  received  standard  of  his  time.  Consequently  HOMER,  born  in 
the  heart  of  paganism,  could  not  represent  the  Gods  in  another 
manner  than  he  had  done.  The  theology  he  follows  was  not  of 
his  invention,  he  had  it  given  him;  but  as  time,  which  destroys 
errors,  has  raised  the  credit  of  his  works,  and  as  the  masterly 
poet  has  shewed  his  skill  in  making  the  best  use  he  could  of  a 
false  religion,  so  he  has  been  taken  in  later  times  for  the  father 
and  inventor  of  so  many  strange  uncommon  things,  whereof  in 
truth  he  was  but  the  copier  and  painter.  CICERO  complains  of 
HOMER,  for  bringing  down  his  Gods  to  the  level  of  men,  instead 
of  exalting  men  to  the  perfection  of  Gods.  This  charge  is  unjust; 


INTRODUCTION.  35 


CHEEK    COSMOGONY  AND   THEOGONY. 


the  greater  number  of  HOMER'S  Gods  had  been  men,  who  pro- 
cured divine  honours  by  their  heroic  exploits  or  useful  inventions. 
But  those  actions,   however  dazzling  they  appeared,  were  not  al- 
ways conformed  to  the  rules  of  strict  virtue:   men  had  not  always 
that  pure  sense  of  morality  to  which  PYTHAGORAS  and  PLATO  af- 
terwards reduced  it.  Mere  stiength,  bodily  accomplishments  and 
natural  endowments,  had  long  supplied  the  place  of  true  merit; 
and  these  great  men  having  been  consecrated  for  possessing  such 
qualities,  made  these  things  be  thought  worthy  of  them  after 
their  consecration.  In  a  word,  the  men  whom  they  deified,  had  a 
share  both  of  divine  perfection  and  human  weakness:  thus  it  was 
the  poet's  business  to  represent  them  in  both  these  lights;  and 
hence  we  find  such  a  mixture  in  his  characters  of  grandeur  with 
meanness,    strength    with    weakness,    majesty   with   abjectness, 
shining  virtues  with  scandalous  vices. 

-  Last  of  all,  OVID,  that  faithful  imitator  of  the 

e     osmogo-    poejs  w^o  went  before  him,  has  given  us  a  Cos- 

^=^========     mogony  at  the  beginning  of  his    Metamorphoses. 

"  Before  the  formation,  says  he,  of  the  Sea,  the  Earth,  and  the  all- 
"  surrounding  Heavens,  universal  nature  had  but  one  appearance. 
"  That  confused  mass,  that  insignificant  useless  heap,  wherein  the 
"  principles  of  all  beings  were  promiscuously  blended  together,  is 
"  what  was  called  Chaos.  As  yet  there  was  no  Sun  to  enlighten 
"  the  world,  no  Moon  to  perform  her  various  changes;  the  Earth, 
«  self-balanced,  was  not  yet  suspended  in  the  air;  the  Sea  had  no 
«  bounding  shores;  earth,  air,  and  water  were  jumbled  together; 
"  earth  without  solidity,  water  not  fluid,  air  without  light;  all  was 
"  darkness  and  confusion.  No  body  had  its  proper  form,  and  each 
"  of  them  was  an  incumbrance  to  another;  cold  combating  with 
"  heat,  moisture  with  driness;  the  hard  bodies  encountered  those 
"  that  made  no  resistance,  and  the  heavy  and  the  light  justled  toge- 
"  ther.  God,  or  Nature  herself,  parted  the  whole  sti  ife,  by  separating 
"  the  heavens  from  the  earth,  the  earth  from  the  waters,  and  the 
«  tether  from  the  air  more  gross.  The  Chaos  being  thus  disen- 
«  tangled,  every  body  had  its  own  proper  place  allottejJ  to  it;  God 
«  established  the  laws  of  their  future  UNION.  Fire,  which  is  the 
"  lightest  of  the  elements,  possessed  the  highest  region;  the  air 
"  occupied  a  place  beneath  the  fire,  corresponding  to  its  lightness; 
"  the  earth,  unwieldy  as  it  was,  became  poised  and  balanced;  and 
E 


INTRODUCTION. 


GHEEK  COSMOGONY    AND    THEOGONT. 


"  the  wafer  sunk  down  to  the  lowest  situation.  After  this  first 
"  distribution,  that  God,  whoever  he  was,  formed  the  earth  into  a 
"  globe,  and  spread  the  seas  over  its  surface;  he  gave  the  winds 
"  permission  to  agitate  the  waters,  without  suffering  the  waves 
"  however  to  pass  the  bounds  prescribed  them.  Then  he  formed 
"  il\e  fountains,  the  pools,  the  lakes  and  rivers,  to  water  the  earth, 
"  confining  them  within  their  banks.  At  his  command  the  plains 
"  were  extended,  the  trees  clothed  with  leaves,  the  mountains 
"  lifted  up  their  heads,  and  the  -valleys  sunk  downward."  OVID, 
after  he  has  described  this  orderly  disposition,  speaks  of  the  five 
zones,  two  frigid,  two  temperate,  and  one  scorched  with  heat, 
which  is  the  torrid  zone.  He  also  takes  notice  of  the  winds,  and 
marks  out  the  places  whence  they  blow.  Then,  having  mentioned 
the  aerial  regions,  whete  hail,  thunder,  and  lightning  are  formed, 
he  thus  goes  on: — "  So  soon  as  the  various  bodies  of  the  universe 
"  were  confined  within  their  respective  bounds,  the  constellations, 
"  till  then  shut  up  in  the  shapeless  mass  of  Chaos,  began  to  shine. 
"  And,  in  fine,  that  every  region  might  be  stored  with  animated 
"  beings,  the  stars,  the  images  of  the  Gods,  were  set  in  the  heavens; 
"  the  fishes  inhabited  the  waters;  the  four-footed  beasts  got  the 
"  earth  to  d\\ell  in;  and  the  air  became  the  mansion  of  the  birds. 
"  There  was  yet  wanting  in  the  world  a  being  of  greater  perfec- 
"  tion,  one  who  might  be  endued  with  a  more  exalted  soul,  and 
"  so  qualified  to  maintain  dominion  over  the  rest — Man  was 
"  formed — whether  the  author  of  nature  made  him  of  that  divine 
«  seed  which  is  proper  for  him,  or  of  that  celestial  principle, 
"  which  the  new-made  Earth,  but  just  disjoined  from  Heaven, 
"  still  contained  in  its  bosom.  PROMETHEUS  having  mixed  some 
«  of  that  earth  with  water,  moulded  it  into  a  Man  after  the  like- 
"  ness  of  the  Gods;  and  whereas  all  the  other  animals  have  their 
"  heads  groveling  downwards,  Man  alone  lifts  his  towards  Heaven, 
"  and  looks  up  to  tire  Stars.  Thus  a  bit  of  earth,  which  was  nothing 
"  at  first  but  a  shapeless  mass,  became  the  figure  of  a  being  till 
"  then  unknown  in  nature." 

Such  are  the  different  Cosmogonies  and  The- 
tions  upon  the  °gonies  °f  the  Greeks,  upon  which  I  shall  make 
foregoing  Cos-  the  following  remarks. —  AS  for  the  system  of 
Theogonles.  ***  °RI'HEUS'  we  al'e  no'  able  to  judge,  from  the 
little  we  know  of  it,  what  part  he  allowed  the 


INTRODUCTION.  37 


GREEK    COSMOGONY   AND   THEOGONY. 


Deity  in  the  formation  of  the  world;  and  if  we  have  not  sufficient 
ground  to  believe  his  sentiments  to  have  been  the  same  with  those 
of  the  more  enlightened  poets  and  philosophers  who  came  long 
after  him,  such  as  the  Pithagoreans  and  Platonics,  as  little  have 
we  reason  to  confound  his  opinion  with  that  of  SANCHONIATHON; 
far  less  with  the  system  of  DIODORUS  SICULUS,  who  makes  men 
at  first  to  have  been  propagated  much  after  what  the  Egyptians 
falsely  believed  to  be  the  manner  of  producing  insects  after  the 
overflowing  of  the  Nile. — Each  of  these  systems  supposes,  that 
Love  united  the  different  principles  the  Chaos  was  made  up  of, 
and  that  all  beings  sprung  from  this  union:  but  what  else  is  this 
Love,  but  the  natural  union  of  homogeneous  bodies?  And  though 
the  authors  of  these  extravagant  opinions  have  made  a  person  of 
it,  we  plainly  see  it  is  only  a  figurative  one  that  never  existed  out 
of  their  own  imagination.  The  creation  is  a  mystery  beyond  the 
reach  of  human  reason.  The  generality  of  the  philosophers,  who 
could  never  comprehend  how  something  could  be  made  of  nothing, 
had  adopted  that  axiom,  ex  nihilo  nihil,  et  in  nihilum  nil  fiosfte 
rev'erti.  Thus,  seeing  the  admirable  structure  of  the  universe, 
which  they  ascribed  either  to  a  being  superior  to  nature,  or  most 
frequently  to  nature  herself,  they  always  supposed  a  pre-existent 
matter,  but  lying  in  confusion,  and  without  form,  till  it  was  disen- 
tangled; and  not  knowing  on  whom  to  confer  the  glory  of  having 
settled  the  order  that  now  reigns  in  the  world,  they  contrived 
their  Love,  which  is  nothing  but  the  union  that  results  from  the 
mere  motion  of  bodies.  OVID,  who  was  not  born  till  eight  hun- 
dred years  after  HESIOD,  or  thereabouts,  ushers  in,  like  him,  his 
grand  work  the  Metamorfihoscs,  with  a  Chaos;  but  he  imitates  him 
in  nothing  else:  for  as  to  the  manner  of  unfolding  this  Chaos,  he 
differs  entirely  from  the  Greek  poet.  I  dont  find  he  makes  Love 
have  any  concern  in  the  operation;  but  as  an  agent  was  wanting, 
he  is  at  a  loss  whom  to  pitch  upon.  He  gives  us  the  Chaos  and 
the  ErebuK,  so  much  sung  by  the  poets,  the  first  notions  of  which 
seem  to  be  taken  from  SANCHONIATHON,  who  had  himseif  no 
doubt  borrowed  it  either  from  these  words  of  MOSES,  terra  autem' 
erat  inanis  et  -vacua,  et  tenebrx  erant  i>ufierfaciemabyssi;r>\:  rather 
from  the  traditions  dispersed  through  the  country  where  this 
Phenician  author  had  lived,  and  that  were  of  greater  antiquity 
than  the  writings  of  the  sacred  Jewish  legislator.  I  am  far  from 


LNTRODUCTION. 


GREEK  COSMOGONY   AND  THEOGONY. 


being  able  to  find,  with  some  learned  men,  a  great  conformity  be- 
tween this  tradition  of  the  creation  of  the  world,  and  what  SAN- 
CHONIATHON,  HESIOD,  and  OVID  have  written  about  it;  but  I  am 
not  so  far  prepossessed,  as  not  to  believe  they  have  formed  the 
idea  of  their  Chaos  upon  it.  As  to  the  rest,  nothing  can  be  more 
different.  They  are  lively  geniuses,  who,  from  a  single  hint,  gave 
full  scope  to  their  imagination,  which  no  sooner  abandoned  the 
guidance  of  reason,  than  it  lost  itself  in  the  unbounded  region  of 
fictions. 

A  short  comparison  of  the  beginning  of  Gene- 
sis with  HESIOD'S  cosmogony  will  shew  the  reader 
•wherein  they  either  correspond  or  differ.  I  say 
nothing  of  the  creation  of  the  world  from  nothing^ 
as  it  is  what  neither  HESIOD  nor  any  profane  author  knew  any 
thing  of. 


HESIOD  8t  MO- 
SES' Co  smog  my 
compared. 


MOSES  begins  thus — 
The  Earth  was  void,  and  dark- 
ness was  spread  over  the  abysi. 


And  the  Spirit  moved  upon 
the  waters;  ct  sfiiritus  fertbuii.r 
sujier  aquas. 


MOSES  tells  us  next,  that  God 
said,./a£  Lux^etLuxfacta  est — 
let  there  be  Light,  and  there 
was  Light:  words  which  a  pro- 
fane author,  Longinus,  thinks  so 
sublime. 

The  Jewish  legislator  goes  on 
to  tell  us,  that  God  made  the 
firmament — et fecit  Deum  Fir- 
mentum;  and  that  he  divided  the 
•waters  that  were  above  the  fir- 
mament, from  those  that  were 
-under  it.  To  which  he  subjoins, 


and  HESIOD  thus — 
The  Chaos  was  before  all 
things;  then  the  spacious  Earth; 
next  the  Mansion  of  immortal 
beings;  and  then  Tartarus  far 
remote  from  thence. 

HE^I«D  next  speaks  of  Lo-ve, 
the  most  beauteous  and  amiable 
of  the  immortals,  who  expels 
and  drives  away  cares  from  the 
hearts  of  Gods  and  men. 

HESIOD  likewise  says,  that 
from  the  Mgfit  sprung  the 
JEthcr  and  the  Day. 


The  author  of  the  Greek  the- 
ogony  corresponds  with  the 
learned  Jew  here  likewise  pret- 
ty much:  the  Earth  says  he,  at 
fiist  brought  forth  Heaven  with 
the  Stars,  and  by  her  union  with 
Heaven  she  had  the  Ocean.— 


INTRODUCTION.  39 


GREl'K   COSMOGONY   AND   THEOGONY. 


thut God  commanded  the  watei  s 
that  were  under  the  Heaven  to 
be  gathered  together  into  one 
place;  and  that  he  called  this 
collection  of  waters  the  Sea,  and 
that  part  of  the  earth  which  by 
this  means  became  dry  was  call- 


But  in  what  follows,  the  profane 
.uthor  loses  himself;  and  let 
one  be  ever  so  prepossessed  in 
his  favour,  yet  I  think  it  would 
be  impossible  to  trace  any  far- 
ther resemblance  between  him 
and  MOSES. 
ed  the  dry-Land. 

OVID  displays  the  formation  of  the  world  in 
between     anotner  nianner,  and  his  description  bears  no  si- 
tbat  of  OVID  and    militude  to  that  of  HESIOD,  as  has  been  observed. 

MOSES. But  there  is  one  thing  worth  remarking-,  namely, 

that  he  considers  Man  as  the  last  production  of 
the  author  of  nature;  in  which  he  comes  nearer  to  MOSES  than 
any  other  Pagan  author.  Another  great  stroke  of  resemblance  is 
where  he  says,  man  was  formed  of c  lay  mixed  with  water;  but  who 
that  Prometheus  was,  whom  he  makes  the  author  of  so  fine  a  work, 
is  not  easy  to  conjecture.  The  poet  who  thus  far  ascribes  the  dis- 
position of  the  universe  either  to  God  or  nature,  when  he  comes 
to  the  formation  of  man,  makes  a  Prometheus  appear,  of  whom  he 
had  not  said  one  woid  before.  HESIOD  indeed  mentions  Prome- 
theus,bul  he  does  not  honour  him  as  OVID  has  done,  with  the  form- 
ing of  man.  Besides,  the  breath  of  life,  with  which  the  poets  say 
Miner-va  animated  Prometheus's  work,  is  plainly  copied  from  the 
words  of  MOSES,  who  says,  that  God  having  formed  man  of  the 
clay,  breathed  into  him  the  breath  of  life;  insfiiravit  infuciem  ejus 
sfiiraculum  ~uit<£. 

-'  Upon  all  we  have  now  seen,  we  might  well 
onies^nd  Theof-  excit;in', — what  a  monstrous  and  heterogeneous 
onies  are  butdis-  composition  of  history  and  fables,  where  we  see 
every  moment»  Posies  of  a  gross  nature  blended 
\\ith  distorted  traditions!  natural  generations 
mixed  with  metaphorical  ones !  names  plainly  allegorical  along 
with  those  that  are  real !  the  whole  collected  by  HESIOD,  in  a  kind 
of  poem,  that  has  neither  art,  invention,  nor  any  charm,  unless  it 
be  a  few  splendid  epithets  with  which  he  has  set  it  off.  I  judged 
it  necessary  however  to  give  an  account  of  this  in  particular  as 
being  the  foundation  of  the  Greek  fables,  which  I  explain  in  the 
second  volume  of  this  work. — In  a  word,  the  Greeks  considered 


40  INTRODUCTION. 


GREEK    COSMOGONY  AND   THEOGONY. 


all  those  as  Gods,  who  had  lived  from  the  beginning  of  the  world, 
till  the  supposed  division  of  the  universe  between  Jupiter,  JVcfi- 
tune,  and  Pluto;  that  is,  if  we  would  reconcile  fables  with  history, 
till  the  time  of  Peleg  and  JVimrod.  They  had  but  a  very  confused 
knowledge  of  the  first  times,  which  has  happened  to  them  in  com- 
mon with  all  the  nations  that  preserved  ancient  annals,  such  as 
the  Egyptians,  the  Chinese,  Sec.  It  is  easy  to  see,  that  they  have 
only  disguised  the  true  ancient  tradition  which  MOSES  alone  has 
preserved,  and  that  they  have  thereby  fallen  into  the  most  mon- 
strous errors,  of  which  the  following  is  a  very  authentic  example5 
in  addition  to  what  we  have  already  said. 
.  We  find  in  the  text  of  the  Sefituagint,  that  the 

Additional  ex-    Giants  came  from  Angds  embracing  the  dauglr 
amples  in    proof 
of  the  same.  ters  of  men:  this  opinion  has  also  been  followed 

•  by  the  most  ancient  interpreters  of  scripture;  as 

also  by  PHILO,  JOSEPHUS,  S.  JUSTIN,  ATHENAGORAS,  CLEMENS 
ALEXANDRINUS,  Sec.  It  has  been  adopted  by  several  learned  Rab- 
bins, and  is  still  generally  received  by  all  the  Mahometans.  Was  not 
this  a  sufficient  handle  for  those  who  were  acquainted  with  this  tra- 
dition, to  say  the  Gods  had  been  enamoured  of  mortal  women,  and 
had  children  by  them?  The  Angels  in  scripture  are  styled  sons  of 
God,  so  that  it  is  probable,  the  Gods  of  Greece  were  formed  upon 
the  idea  of  the  Angels^  good  and  bad:  thence  proceeded  the  Egre- 
gores  of  the  Hebrews,  the  Annedots  of  the  Chaldeans,  in  short,  the 
Gehnes,  the  Genii,  the  JEons,  the  Archontes,  the  Titans,  the  Giants, 
and  all  the  Gods  or  demi-Gods  of  Paganism. — The  Book  of  Enoch 
too  no  doubt,  contributed  a  great  deal  to  the  adopting  of  the  opinion 
that  Angels  had  been  familiar  with  the  daughters  of  men.  This 
work,  withal,  is  very  ancient,  since  it  was  known  to  the  apostles, 
by  whom  it  is  cited;  but  it  is  certainly  spurious.  DODWEL  and  father 
PEZRON  were  in  the  wrong  to  call  its  antiquity  in  question,  merely 
because  the  Greeks  were  strangers  to  it,  as  if  they  had  been  ac- 
quainted with  all  the  ancient  books  before  they  had  them  trans- 
lated in  their  own  language.  It  will  not  be  amiss  that  we  give  some 
short  account  of  this  book,  and  then  lay  open  the  origin  of  the  fable 
it  contains,  which  PHILASTRIUS  ranks  in  the  number  of  the  He- 
resies. When  men  multiplied, says  the  author,  they  had  daughters 
of  an  exquisite  beauty,  so  amiable  that  the  Egregores,  or  the  guar- 
dian Angels,  conceived  a  violent  passion  for  them.  They  came 


INTRODUCTION.  41 


GREEK  COSMOGONY  AND   THEOGONY. 


down  from  Heaven,  alighted  upon  mount  Herman,  joined  in  league 
together,  and  bound  themselves  by  oath  to  stand  to  one  another. 
After  this,  having  embraced  these  virgins,  they  conceived  the 
Giants;  and  from  the  AfofiAelim,  sons  of  the  Giants,  came  the  Eliud. 
The  author  names  twenty  of  these  leading  Angels,  who  taught  men 
several  arts,  especially  the  pernicious  art  of  magic,  and  the  use  of 
arms.  To  which  he  adds,  that  God  seeing  what  horrid  enormities 
the  Giants  and  their  sons  committed,  sent  down  to  the  earth  Mi- 
chael, Gabriel,  Raphael  and  Uriel.  Michael,  the  archangel,  seized 
Semixas  the  head  of  these  rebel  Angels,  bound  him  with  his  asso-. 
ciates,  and  condemned  them  to  the  lowest  parts  of  the  earth,  where 
they  are  reserved  to  the  day  of  their  judgment.  After  this  he  sowed 
dissentions  among  their  children,  who  extirpated  one  another. 

'       •         This  Fable  of  the  Book  of  Enoch,  is  founded 
Reflections 
upon  the    latter    merety  uPon  a  phrase  in  scnjiture  not  well  under- 

example.  stood,  and  of  course  upon  an  ambiguity:  the  first 

"~"~~~"~"~~~  interpreters,  finding  in  Tod,  the  epithet  son  of  God 
ascribed  to  the  Angels,  applied  it  likewise  to  the  Angels  in  the  pas- 
sage in  Genesis,  where  it  is  only  the  sons  of  Seth  are  meant, 
who  are  designated  sons  of  God  in  contradistinction  to  the  sons 
of  Cain.  They  being  smitten  with  the  beauty  of  the  daugh- 
ters of  Cain's  race,  matched  with  them,  and  had  sons  by  them, 
who  became  terrible  more  for  the  enormity  of  their  crimes  than 
of  their  stature;  for  the  word  Nefihelim,  applied  to  them  in  Genesis, 
signifies  equally  Giants,  or  persons  dissolute  and  immoral  in  thdr 
lives.  But  passing  that,  I  shall  only  borrow  a  reflection  from  M. 
FOUBMONT,  who  may  be  consulted  on  this  article,  wherein  he  takes 
the  names  of  twenty  apostate  Angels  from  the  fictitious  Book  of 
Enoch,  and  explains  them  with  erudition.  The  reflection  is,  that 
the  author  of  this  book  introduces  five  sorts  of  personages,  viz. 
1st,  Men,  of  the  seed  of  Adam;  2d,  The  Egregores,  or  Angels  of 
Heaven;  3d,  The  Giants,  sprung  from  the  Egregores;  4th,  The 
Wejihelim,  sons  of  the  Giants;  5th,  The  Eliud,  sons  of  the  Nephe- 
Jini:  in  which  this  author  seems  to  correspond  with  HESIOD,  in 
whose  theogony  we  find  these  Jive  classes,  with  little  variation. 

••  From  what  we  have  seen  in  this  section,  it  ap- 

Companson  of 
the   Greeks   and    pears  hot  only  that  the  Greeks  hud  several  Theog- 

SSng^uS  om>*' but  that  they had  disested  into  a  s>'stem 

fables.  the  Theology  they  derived  from  the  eastern  nati- 

ons. With  the  Romans,  the  case  was  quite  other- 


42  INTRODUCTION. 


INDIAN   COSMOGONY   AND   THEOGONY. 


wise:  content  with  the  religion  of  the  Greeks,  and  other  nations 
whom  they  conquered,  they  borrowed  their  Divinities,  worship, 
ceremonies,  sacrifices,  priests,  festivals;  in  a  word,  the  whole 
afi/iaralus  which  idolatry  drew  after  it,  without  once  having  a 
thought  of  reducing  so  fantastical  a  religion  in'.o  a  system;  and  the 
most  idolatrous  city  in  the  world  was  the  least  concerned  about 
the  history  of  its  Gods.  CICERO  indeed,  in  histieatise  of  the  nature 
of  the  Gods,  gives  some  of  their  genealogies;  but  since,  for  tlu; 
most  part,  his  notions  are  borrowed  from  the  writings  of  the  Greeks, 
and  he  only  reasons  upon  the  subject  like  an  Academic,  this  piece 
of  his  is  not  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  System  of  Theology. 


5  The  Theogony  and  Cosmogony  of  the  Indians. 

I  am  now  to  give  the  Theogony  of  those  Indian 
of  the  Brahmin  Priests  we  ct'U  Brahmins,  or  Brachmans;*  who 
priests.  make  the  first  and  most  respectable  class  among 

the  Indians,  and  are  solely  set  apart  for  the  wor- 
ship of  their  Gods,  and  the  ceremonies  of  religion.  The  Brachmans 
got  this  name  from  Brahma,  who,  according  to  the  Indian  doctrine, 
is  the  first  of  the  three  beings  whom  God  created,  and  by  whose 
means  he  afterwards  formed  the  world — this  name  moreover  sig- 
nifying, in  the  Indian  language,  he  ivho  fienetrutes  into  all  things. 
This  Brahma,  say  the  Brachmans,  composed  and  left  to  the  Indi- 
ans the  four  books  which  they  call  Beth  or  Bed,  in  which  all  the 
sciences  and  all  the  ceremonies  of  religion  are  comprised;  and 
that  is  the  reason  why  the  Indians  represent  this  God  with  four 
heads.  Father  HIRCHEU,  who  has  given  a  print  of  the  God  Brahma, 
has  enlarged  a  good  deal  upon  the  mythology  of  the  Indians,  in 
relation  to  him.  The  Gods  of  the  Brachmans,  says  the  learned  Je- 
suit, are  Brahma,  Vesne  or  Vichnou,  and  Butzen;  and  they  are  the 


*  These  are  the  same  with  those  whom  the  Greeks  called  Gymnosophists. 
Pythagoras  studied  their  doctrine  and  manners..  They  were  the  Babylonian 
and  Assyrian  philosophers,  who  went  naked  in  the  woods,  abstaining  from 
all  the  pleasures  of  human  life. 


INTRODUCTION.  43 


INDIAN  COSMOGONY  AND   THEOOONY. 


chiefs  of  all  the  other  Gods,  whose  number  amounts  to  thirty-three 
millions, 

„  According  to  the  same  author,  these  Indian 

of  the°BrahmIin  Priests  say>  that  all  mankind  are  sprung  from 
priests.  Brahma,  and  that  this  God  has  produced  as  many 

"  "  worlds  as  there  are  parts  in  his  body.    Theirs; 

of  these-  worlds,  which  is  above  the  heavens,  sprung  from  his 
brain;  the  second,  from  his  eyes;  the  third,  from  his  mouth;  the 
fourth,  from  the  left  ear;  the  fifth,  from  the  palate  and  from  the 
tongue;  the  sixth,  from  the  heart;  the  seventh,  from  the  belly;  the 
eighth,  from  the  genitals;  the  ninth  *  from  the  left  thigh;  the  tenth, 
from  the  knees;  the  eleventh,  from  the  hed;  the  twelfth,  from  the 
toes  of  the  right  foot;  the  thirteenth,  from  the  sole  of  the  left  foot; 
and  lastly,  {he  fourteenth,  from  the  air  which  encompassed  him  at 
the  time  of  these  productions.  If  the  Brachmans  be  asked  the  rea- 
sons of  a  theology  so  ridiculous,  they  answer,  that  the  different 
qualities  of  men  gave  rise  to  it.  The  wise  and  learned  are  meant 
by  the  world  sprung  from  Brahma's  brain;  \he  gluttons  came  from 
his  belly;  and  so  of  the  rest.  Hence  these  priests  are  so  curious  in 
observing  physiognomy  and  personal  qualities,  pretending  thereby 
to  divine,  to  what  world  every  one  belongs. — When  once  men  are 
delivered  up  to  superstition,  there  is  no  opinion  so  wild  but  they 
may  fall  into  it.  These  same  Brachmans  have  imagined  seven  seas: 
one  of  water;,  one  of  milk;  one  of  curds;  a  fourth  of  buffer;  a  fifth 
of  salt;  a  sixth  of  sugar;  and  in  fine,  a  seventh  of  wine:  and  each  of 
these  seas  has  its  particular  paradises,  some  of  them  for  the  wiser 
and  more  refined,  and  the  rest  for  the  sensual  and  volufituous;  with 
this  difference,  that  the  first  of  these  paradises,  which  unites  us 
intimately  with  the  Divinity,  has  no  need  of  any  other  sort  of  de~ 
lights;  whereas  the  rest  are  stored  with  all  imagini\ry*fileasures. 
As  for  the  other  wild  notions  of  the  Indians,  about  the  formation 
of  the  world,  which  they  believe  to  be  a  work  spun  by  a  spider, 
and  which  shall  be  destroyed  when  the  work  returns  into  the  bow- 
els of  that  insect,  I  here  wave  them,  because  they  are  too  riuicu- 
lous  for  the  curiosity  of  the  most  zealous  antiquarians.  'It  appears 
from  what  I  have  been  saying  above,  that  the  Indians  follow  the 
ancient  doctrine  of  the  Egyptians,  which  the  author  just  quoted 
calls  Divine  Transformation. 

F 


INTRODUCTION. 


CHINESE   THEOGONY. 


7lh,  The  Theogony  of  the  Chinese. 

•rr  The  Chinese  began  to  improve  letters  from 

In  the  first  ages,      ,  ...  r  •    •  .  r 

the  Chinese  wor-    "ie  earnest  times  ot  their  monarchy,  at  least  irom 

ship  was  not  cor-  the  reigns  of  Yao  and  Chum,  who  lived  upwards 
rupted  by  k  i-  of  twothousandtwo  hundred  years  before  CHRIST. 
r •  •  '  • "  It  is  a  common  opinion,  and  universally  received 

by  those  who  have  gone  farthest  in  investigating  the  origin  of  a 
people  of  such  unquestionable  antiquity,  that  the  sons  of  NOAH 
were  dispersed  over  the  eastern  parts  of  Asia,  and  that  there  were 
some  of  them  who  penetrated  into  China,  a  few  years  after  the 
deluge,  and  there  laid  the  first  foundations  of  the  oldest  monarchy 
we  know  in  the  world.  It  is  a  thing  not  to  be  denied,  that  these 
first  founders,  instructed  from  a  tradition  not  very  remote  from 
its  source,  in  the  greatness  and  power  of  the  PIRST  BEING,  taught 
their  posterity  to  honour  this  sovereign  LORD  of  the  universe,  and 
to  live  agreeably  to  the  principles  of  that  law  of  nature  he  had  en- 
graved on  their  hearts.  Their  classical  books,  some  of  them  writ- 
ten even  in  the  time  of  the  two  emperors  just  named,  leave  no 
room  to  doubt  of  it.  There  are  five  of  these  books  among  them, 
they  call  the  Kink,  for  which  they  have  an  extreme  veneration. 
Though  these  books  contain  only  the  fundamental  laws  of  the 
state,  and  dont  directly  meddle  with  religion,  their  author's  inten- 
tion having  been  to  secure  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  the  empire; 
yet  they  are  very  proper  to  inform  us  what  was  the  religion  of  that 
ancient  people,  and  we  are  told  in  every  page,  that  in  order  to 
compass  that  peace  and  tranquillity,  two  things  were  necessary  to 
be  observed,  the  duties  of  religion,  and  the  rules  of  a  good  govern' 
ment.  It  appears  through  the  whole,  that  the  first  object  of  their 
worship  was  one  being,  the  supreme  LORD  and  sovereign  principle 
of  all  things,  whom  they  honoured  under  the  name  of  CHANGTI, 
that  is,  supreme  emperor,  or  TIEN,  which  in  their  language  is  of 
the  same  import.  TIEN,  say  the  interpreters  of  these  books,  is,  the 
spirit  who  presides  over  Heaven.  It  is  true,  the  same  word  often 
signifies  among  the  Chinese,  the  material  Heavens,  and  now  since 
atheism  has  been  for  some  ages  introduced  among  the  literati,  it 
is  restricted  to  this  sense;  but  in  their  ancient  books  they  under- 
stood by  it,  the  LORD  of  Heaven,  the  sovereign  of  the  world.  In 
them  there  is  mention,  upon  all  occasions,  of  the  providence  of 


INTRODUCTION, 


CHINESE    THEOGONY. 


TIEN,  of  the  chastisements  he  inflicts  upon  the  bad  emperors,  and 
of  the  rewards  he  dispenses  to  the  good.  They  likewise  represent 
him  as  one,  who  is  flexible  to  vows  and  prayers,  appeased  by  sa- 
crifices, and  who  diverts  calamities  that  threaten  the  empire,  with 
a  thousand  other  things  which  can  agree  to  none  but  an  intelligent 
being.  To  convince  us  of  this,  we  need  but  read  the  extracts  which 
father  HALDEhas  taken  from  these  ancient  books,  in  the  second 
volume  of  his  large  history  of  China,  and  what  he  farther  says  in 
the  beginning  of  the  third.  The  fear  of  being  tedious,  and  of  wan- 
dering from  my  purpose,  may  justify  me  in  not  copying  him;  but 
one  cannot  forbear  concluding  with  him,  after  the  long  detail  he 
makes,  that  it  appears  from  the  doctrine  of  the  standard  Chinese 
books,  that  from  the  foundation  of  the  empire  by  Fo-hi,  through  a 
long  tract  of  ages  thereafter,  the  supreme  being,  known  among 
them  under  the  name  of  CHANGTI,  or  of  TIEN,  was  the  object  of 
public  worship,  and  that  they  looked  upon  him  to  be  the  sow/,  as 
it  were,  and  the  firimum  mobile  of  their  national  government;  that 
this  first  of  beings  was  feared,  honoured,  and  revered;  and  that  not 
only  the  emperors  who  at  all  times  have  been  the  leaders  and 
priests  of  their  religion,  but  the  grandees  of  the  empire,  and  the 
vulgar,  knew  they  had  a  LORD  and  judge  above,  who  knows  how 
to  reward  those  who  obey  him,  and  to  punish  offenders. — It  is 
certain,  that  if  in  these  ancient  books  proofs  are  to  be  found  of  the 
knowledge  the  Chinese  had  of  the  supreme  being,  and  of  the  re- 
ligious worship  they  have  paid  him  for  a  long  series  of  ages,  it  is 
no  less  certain  that  no  footsteps  are  there  to  be  seen  of  an  idola- 
trous worship.  But  this  will  appear  less  surprising  when  we  con- 
sider, 1st,  That  idolatry  spread  itself  through  the  world  but  slowly, 
and  step  by  step;  and  that  having  probably  taken  its  rise  in  Assyria, 
as  EUSEBIUS  alleges,  where  there  was  not  even  the  appearance  of 
an  idol  till  long  after  Belus,  or  according  toothers  in  Phenicia,or 
in  Egypt,  it  could  not  have  made  its  way  so  soon  into  China,  a  na- 
tion that  has  ever  been  sequestered  from  others,  and  separated  by 
the  great  Indies  from  the  centre  of  idolati-y.  2d,  That  there  was 
always  in  China  a  supreme  court,  to  take  care  of  the  affairs  of  reli- 
gion, which  with  the  utmost  exactness  kept  a  watchful  eye  over 
their  principal  object.  Thus  it  was  no  easy  matter  to  introduce 
new  laws  and  new  ceremonies  among  a  people  so  much  attached 
to  their  ancient  traditions.  Besides,  as  the  Chinese  have  always 
been  accustomed  to  write  their  history  with  great  care,  and  have 


46  INTRODUCTION. 


CHINESE    THEOGONY. 


arv 

never  have  failed  to  take  notice  of  what  innovations  had  happened 
in  religion  as  they  have  done  at  great  length,  when  the  idol  l'"o 
and  his  worship  were  introduced. 

•"  •       '  ••         Such  was  the  established  religion  of  China,  in 

nor  had  they  ei-    the  first  ages  of  their  empire:  I  call  it  establish- 
ther    Cosmogony 
or  Theogony:          ed  religion,  because  the  vulgar  continued  to  ac- 

i  knowledge  subaltern  spirits  who  watched  over 

the  towns  and  fields;  and  to  them  they  used  to  pay  a  superstitious 
worship,  to  pray  to  them  for  health,  success  in  their  affairs,  and 
plentiful  harvests;  as  also  did  they  intermix  with  this  worship  sev- 
eral superstitious  usages,  that  had  something  of  the  nature  of 
magic,  to  which  that  people  has  always  been  strongly  addicted: 
but  this  was  not  the  religion  of  the  state,  and  the  usages  of  that 
kind  have  always  been  condemned  by  the  Court  of  rites,  though 
frequently  some  of  the  Mandarins,  of  whom  it  was  composed, 
were  themselves  tinctured  with  them. — Thus,  to  speak  accurate- 
ly, the  Chinese  had  not  what  we  call  a  Theogony  or  Cosmogony. 
Their  philosophers  solely  attached  to  morality,  politics,  and  his- 
tory, have  always  neglected  natural  philosophy;  and  we  do  not 
find  in  their  writings,  those  I  mean  of  the  ancients,  the  systems 
so  well  known  in  Europe,  in  Egypt,  and  in  some  parts  of  Asia, 
about  the  formation  of  the  world,  and  the  bodies  it  is  made  up  of, 
or  about  the  Gods,  of  whom  we  have  so  many  genealogies.  I 
said  their  ancient  philosophers,  because  the  modern  ones,  who  at- 
tempted to  give  some  kind  of  Cosmogony,  have  fallen  into  an 
atheism  resembling  that  of  STRATO  and  SPINOZA. — We  can  as 
little  find  that  they  spoke  clearly  about  the  soul,  of  which  they 
dont  appear  to  have  had  a  distinct  idea.  However,  we  can  be  in 
no  doubt  of  their  believing  the  &oul's  subsistence  after  death,  not 
only  from  the  stories  of  apparitions,  which  are  to  be  found  in  the 
books  of  CONFUCIUS  himself,  the  wisest  and  most  knowing  of 
their  philosophers,  btu  from  the  opinion  of  the  Metempsychosis,, 
which  they  have  received  many  ages  ago. 

===         However,  as  man  deprived  of  revelation,  and 

SP/L?<^K?JX   left  to  the  bias  of  his  own  heart)  has  ahva>'s 

introduced     the    been  a  prey  to  error,  I  am   far  from   believing 

S!*i*70""eSedf  lhe  Cllimse  have  been  exempted  from  it;  and 
a  Cosmogony;  '  we  have  a  favourable  enough  opinion  of  them, 
when  we  think  they  were  perhaps  somewhat 


INTRODUCTION.  47 


CHINESE    THEOGOXY. 


later  than  other  nations  in  giving  themselves  up  to  practise  idola- 
try. Let  us  consider  them,  if  you  will,  as  the  philosophers  the 
Afiostle  speaks  of;  who,  by  the  light  of  nature,  rose  to  the  know- 
ledge of  the  supreme  being:  are  not  these  as  guilty  as  those,  of 
having  known  him,  without  having  glorified  him?  At  length  the 
sect  of  the  Taose  appeared  in  China,  near  six  hundred  years  be- 
fore Christ.  LAO-KIUN  is  the  philosopher  by  whom  it  was  found- 
ed. The  birth  of  this  man,  if  we  may  believe  his  disciples,  was 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary:  carried  four  and  twenty  years  in 
the  loins  of  his  mother,  he  opened  himself  a  passage  through  the 
left  side,  and  occasioned  the  death  of  her  who  conceived  him.  — 
The  morals  of  this  philosopher  came  very  near  to  those  of  EPI- 
CURUS, and  he  wrapped  up  his  physics  in  impenetrable  obscurity: 
I  take  no  more  of  them  than  what  regards  the  Cosmogony.  »  Fao, 
said  he,  or  reason,  produced  One,  One  produced  Two,  Two  pro- 
duced Three,  and  Three  produced  all  things."  The  whole  happi- 
ness of  man,  according  to  this  philosopher,  consisted  in  that  state 
of  mind  which  the  Greeks  called  apathy,  a  state  wherein  man 
divested  of  fear,  and  all  tormenting  passions,  must  be  free  from 
disquietude  of  every  kind;  and  as  it  is  exceeding  hard  for  one  to 
get  rid  of  the  uneasy  apprehensions  of  death  and  futurity,  they 
who  made  profession  of  this  sect,  were  addicted  to  magic  and 
chemistry,  to  find  out  the  secret  whereby  to  become  immortal; 
presuming  they  should  be  able  to  find  it  at  length  by  the  assist- 
ance of  the  spirits  they  invoked.  There  were  some  of  them  who 
flattered  themselves  with  that  discovery,  by  means  of  certain  po- 
tions they  made  up;  and  more  than  one  emperor  has  tried  the 
fruitless  experiment. 

One,  who  is  acquainted  with  the  temper  of 
mankind,  can  easily  judge,  that  a  sect  which 


to  a  sort  of  The-  raised  such  flattering  hopes,  would  very  soon 
0S°nv-  _  make  proselytes;  accordingly  it  was  embraced 
by  several  of  the  Mandarins,  who  gave  their 
minds  entirely  to  the  magic-  art,  which  it  prescribed.  But  it  made 
yet  greater  advances  among  the  women,  naturally  curious  and 
extremely  fond  of  life.  In  fine,  the  author  of  the  sect  wash  mself 
ranked  among  the  Gods;  a  stately  temple  was  erected  to  him;  and 
the  emperor  Hium  Tsong  caused  the  statue  of  this  new  God  to  be 
brought  into  his  palace.  His  disciples  got  the  name  of  Heavenly 


48  INTRODUCTION. 


CHINESE    THEOGONY. 


teachers,  and  his  descendants  are  still  honoured  with  the  dignity 
of  Mandolins.  These  are  they  who  have  introduced  that  vast 
multitude  of  Spirits,  subordinate  to  the  supreme  being,  whom 
they  honour  in  temples,  and  in  particular  chapels,  and  to  whom 
they  saciifice  three  sorts  of  victims,  a  hog,  -A  fish,  and  a  piece  of  a 
fowl.  They  have  even  car'ied  superstition  the  length  of  deifying 
several  of  their  emperors;  whereby  we  see  that  the  Chinese,  a 
people  otherwise  very  ingenious,  after  their  first  ages  of  pure 
worship,  are  nothing  short,  in  point  of  superstition  and  idolatry,  of 
the  other  nations  whom  they  have  always  »taken  a  pride  to  con- 
temn. This  sect  has  filled  China  with  divines  and  impostors,  who 
impose  upon  the  vulgar,  and  sometimes  upon  the  great,  by  delu- 
sive arts  and  magic  rites,  wherewith  they  are  too  apt  to  be  infa- 
tuated. 

•-  About  the  sixty-fifth  year  after  Christ,  the  em- 

f  ndedheb  The  Peror  ^nfff^  through  a  vain  curiosity,  was  the 
emperor  MING-  means  of  introducing  a  sect  still  more  dangerous. 
H°  lhis  ernl)eror'  struck  with  some  words  which 
CONFUCIUS  had  often  repeated,  namely,  that  it 
was  in  the  went  they  would  find  the  holy  One,  sent  ambassadors  into 
the  Indies  in  quest  of  him,  and  to  learn  the  law  he  taught.  These 
envoys  believed  they  had  at  last  found  him  out,  among  the  wor- 
shippers of  an  idol  named  Fo  or  Fee.  They  transmitted  into  China 
the  idol,  together  with  the  fables  of  which  the  Indian  books  were 
full,  their  superstitions,  metempsychosis,  and  in  fine,  atheism.  They 
reported  that  in  this  part  of  India  which  the  Chinese  call  Chun- 
tien-cho,  Moye  the  king's  wife  dreamed  that  she  was  swallowing 
an  Elephant;  and  that  when  the  time  came  that  she  was  to  be  deli- 
vered of  the  child,  he  tore  her  right  side,  and  no  sooner  had  he 
come  from  the  womb  of  his  mother,  than  he  stood  up  and  made 
six  steps,  and  pointing  with  one  hand  to  Heaven,  'and  the  other 
to  the  earth,  he  pronounced  these  words:  there  is  none  but  I  in 
heaven  or  ufion  earth  that  deserves  to  be  honoured:  they  gave  him  the 
name  of  Che-Kin  or  Cha-Ka.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  years  he  for- 
sook his  wives,  his  sons,  and  all  his  terrestrial  cares,  retired  into 
a  solitary  life,  and  put  himself  under  the  conduct  of  four  philoso- 
phers. At  thirty  years  he  had  a  plenteous  infusion  of  the  divinity, 
and  became  Fo,  or  Pagodc,  as  the  Indians  express  themselves,  and 
thought  of  nothing  but  propagating  his  doctrine  every  where.  His 


INTRODUCTION.  49 


CHINKSE    THEOGONY'. 


lying  miracles  were  surprising  to  all,  and  produced  him  the  vene- 
ration of  the  whole  country,  and  a  prodigious  number  of  disciples, 
•who  were  his  instruments  in  infecting  the  east  with  his  impious 
tenets.  The  Chinese  call  these  disciples  Ho-Chang;  the  Tartars 
call  them  Lamas;  the  Siamese  call  them  Jalajioins;  andthe  Ja» 
panese  denominate  them  Bonzes;  for  this  sect  is  diffused  among 
all  the  people  now  mentioned.  In  the  mean  time,  Fo  arrived  at  the 
age  of  seventy-nine  years,  convened  some  of  his  disciples,  and 
after  having  explained  to  them  his  doctrine,  died;  and  they  invent- 
ed manv  fables  about  his  death.  As  the  Metempsychosis  was  the 
principal  article  of  this  doctrine,  they  gave  it  out  that  their  master 
was  born  eight  thousand  times,  and  that  he  had  appeared  in  the 
world  sometimes  under  the  figure  of  an  ape,  sometimes  under  that 
of  a  dragon,  then  of  an  elephant.  Sec.  All  this  probably  was  to  estab- 
lish the  worship  of  this  pretended  divinity,  and  that  under  the 
symbol  of  these  different  animals,  which  actually  became  objects 
of  the  Indian  worship.  The  Chinese  having  received  this  idol, 
erected  to  him  a  world  of  temples;  and  his  sect,  though  always 
outlawed  by  the  Court  ofrites,  has  made  immense  progress  in  the 
country,  under  the  direction  of  the  Ho-Chang,  the  most  despica- 
ble of  mortals,  the  most  superstitious,  and  the  most  ignorant.  In 
fine,  to  abridge  what  is  to  be  found  at  very  great  length,  in  the 
beginning  of  father  Du  HALDE'S  third  volume  of  the  history  of 
China,  the  doctrine  of  Fo  is  divided  into  external  and  internal. 
The  first,  full  as  it  is  of  gross  superstitions,  is  taught  by  the 
greater  number  of  the  Ho-Chang.  The  second  is  reserved  for  the 
more  learned,  and  it  consists  in  saying,  that  vacuity  is  the  prin- 
ciple and  the  end  of  all  things;  that  from  nothing  our  first  parents 
derived  their  original,  and  to  nothing  they  returned  after  their 
death;  that  vacuity  is  what  constitutes  our  being  and  substance, 
and  that  it  is  from  this  nothing,  and  from  the  mixture  of  the  ele- 
ments, that  all  productions  came,  and  thither  they  afterwards  re- 
turn; in  fine,  that  all  beings  only  differ  from  one  another  by  their 
figures  and  qualities:  and  in  this  manner  they  pretend,  their  mas- 
ter, when  dying,  explained  his"  doctrine,  that  is  to  saythis  atheism, 
to  his  favorite  disciples.— I  shall  say  but  little  of  the  Theogonies 
of  the  other  nations,  except  what  occurs  incidentally  under  the 
following  head,  for  they  seem  hardly  digested  into  a  system. 
For  example,  the  Brachmans  in  the  East-Indies  have  a  tradition 


SO  INTRODUCTION. 


COSMOGONY    OF    THE    ABORIGINAL    AMERICANS. 

of  their  God  Vichnou,  metamorphosed  into  a  tortoise;  and  by  way 
of  explication  they  tell  us,  that  by  the  fall  of  a  mountain  the  world 
began  to  stagger,  and  to  sink  down  gradually  towards  the  abyss, 
where  it  had  perished,  if  their  beneficent  God  had  not  trans- 
formed himself  into  a  tortoise  to  bear  it  up— The  Chinese  have 
adopted  this  tradition,  and  they  apply  it,  as  father  KIRCHER  re- 
marks, to  their  flying  dragon,,  who,  they  say,  sprung  from  a  tor- 
toise, and  became  the  prop  of  the  universe  that  rests  upon  him. 
The  Troglodytes  had  probably  the  same  fable  among  them,  since 
they  had  a  high  veneration  for  the  tortoise,  and  had  an  abhorrence 
of  their  neighbours  the  Helinophagi,  so  called,  because  they  fed 
upon  the  flesh  of  the  tortoise. 


8(h,  The  Cosmogony  and  other  fables  of  the  Aboriginal  Americana. 


•  We  are  not  to  imagine  that  the  savages  of 

acomnt^of^the    America,  a  wandering  and  unsettled  race,  ever 
Cosmogony  of  the    applied  themselvss  to  form  a  system  of  religioh. 
American     Indi-    ^here  are  however,  traditions  to  be  found  among 
'  some  of  them,  which  may  form  a  kind  of  Theog- 

ony.  In  this  manner,  according  to  father  LAFFITEAU,!  the  Iro- 
quois,  one  of  the  most  considerable  of  these  savage  nations,  account 
for  the  origin  of  the  world.  In  the  beginning,  say  they,  there  were 
six  Men,  (the  people  of  Peru  and  of  Brasil  agree  upon  the  same 
number;)  as  yet  there  being  no  earth,  these  men  were  carried  in 
the  air  at  the  mercy  of  the  winds.  Having  no  Women,  they  fore- 
saw that  their  species  would  soon  come  to  an  end;  but  having 


*  If  some  of  our  readers  should  be  startled  at  seeing  here  introduced 
so  modern  a  subject  as  this  title  indicates,  on  a  single  reflection  they  will 
readily  admit,  that  in  all  probability  it  is  not  the  more  modern  because  it 
is  the  less  ancient,  but  the  rather,  because  it  owed  its  longevity  to  the 
providential  grace  of  a  seclusion  from  a  more  ambitious,  turbulent,  ran- 
corous,  and  intolerant  Hemisphere:  And  if  this  be  not  a  sufficient  apology, 
we  will  vouch  for  the  subject  being  sufficiently  interesting,  from  its  strik- 
ing analogy  with  what  has  gone  before,  to  justify  its  introduction. 

•{•  Mceurs  des  Sauvages.  As  most  of  the  examples  I  here  make  use  of  are 
taken  from  that  work,  it  may  suffice  to  have  cited  it  once  for  all. 


INTRODUCTION. 


COSMOGONY   OF    THE    ABORIGINAL    AMERICAN'S. 

got  notice  there  was  one  in  heaven,  they  resolved  th&t  one  of  them, 
named  the  Wolf,  should  transport  himself  thither.  The  enter- 
.  prize  was  difficult  and  dangerous;  but  the  birds  wafted  him 
thither  upon  their  wings.  Being  arrived  there,  he  waited  till  this 
Woman  came  out,  as  her  way  was,  to  draw  water,  ho  soon  as  she 
appeared,  he  offered  her  some  present,  and  seduced  her.  The 
LORD  of  Heaven,  knowing  what  had  happened,  banished  the 
Woman,  and  a  Tortoise  received  her  upon  its  back.  This  Woman 
at  first  had  two  sons,  of  whom  the  one,  who  was  armed  with  offen- 
sive weapons,  slew  his  brother  who  had  none.  She  was  afterwards 
delivered  of  several  children;  from  whom  the  rest  of  mankind  are 
sprung — The  otter  and  the  fishes  drawing  up  mud  from  the  bot- 
tom of  the  water,  formed  upon  the  body  of  the  Tortoise  just  men- 
tioned, a  small  island,  which  grew  greater  and  greater  by  degrees; 
and  such,  according  to  these  savages,  is  the  original  of  our 
Earth. 

-         This  tradition,  if  it  be  exactly  reported,  is  un- 

<.uReiri.arks  li?°n    doubtedly  a  remnant  of  the  primitive  history  of 
the    above    Cos-  '  . 

inogony.  the  creation,  of  EVE  banished  from  the  terrestrial 

•i— •    paradise,  and  of  the  murder  of  ABEL  by  CAIN. 
For  in  short,  it  is  possible  that  these  savages,  descended  from  the 
same  stock  with  the  rest  of  mankind,   may  have  preserved  a  tra- 
dition, which  they  .might  well  alter,  though  they  could  not  totally 
erase  out  of  their  memory. —  Although  we  had  no  knowledge  of 
the  traditions  of  the  other  American  nations,  it  is  highly  probable 
that  their  notions  were  mostly  the   same   with  those  of  the  Iro- 
quois,  since  the  people  of  Peru  and   Brazil  in  South   America, 
agree  with  them  as  to  the  number  of  men  there  were  at  the  be- 
ginning, as  we  have  said. 
======        But  it  is  not  only  by  their  Cosmogony  that  the 

Their  Fables  Americans  have  equalled  the  Greeks  and  other 
===^===^^==  nations  of  the  old  continent,  in  the  whimsical 
system  they  invented  concerning  their  original;  they  resemble 
them  too  pretty  often  in  their  Fables.  Thus,  for  instance,  their 
way  of  accounting  for  the  production  of  rain,  was,  that  a  young 
girl  was  in  the  clouds,  sporting  with  her  little  brother,  and  he 
broke  her  fiitcher  full  of  water.  Is  there  not  here  a  great  simili- 
tude to  lho::.e  fov-'cJi'^nrnhhs,  and  river-Gods,  who  poured  fovth 


52  INTRODUCTION. 


COSMOGONY    OF    THE    ABORIGINAL    AMERICANS. 

tvater  from  their  urns?  They  too  were  persuaded  like  the  Greeks 
that  there  were  Gods  who  inhabited  the  Rivers  and  other  collec- 
tions of  water,  since  at  one  of  their  festivals,  the  people  of  Mexi- 
co had  a  solemn  practice  of  drowning  a  young  boy,  to  be  company 
for  these  Gods.  According  to  the  traditions  of  Peru,  the  Ynca, 
JVIanco-Guina-Cafiac,  Son  of  the  Sun,  found  a  way,  by  his  elo- 
quence, to  make  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  quit  their  retire- 
ments in  the  woods,  where  they  lived  after  the  manner  of  the 
beasts,  and  brought  them  to  live  under  reasonable  laws.  Just  so 
did  ORPHEUS  with  the  Greeks,  and  he  too  passed  for  the  Son  of 
the  Sun.  It  is  remarkable  that  both  these  people,  so  remote  the 
oi>e  from  the  other,  should  have  agreed  to  fancy  that  such  as  had 
extraordinary  accomplishments  were  the  offspring  of  the  Sun. 
If  the  Greeks,  and,  in  imitation  of  them,  the  ancient  Gauls,  had 
a  religious  veneration  for  Trees,  and  believed  them  to  be  the 
abode  of  Dryads  and  Hamadryads — the  Abenaquis  too,  as  father 
LAFFITEAU  reports,  had  a  famous  Tree,  whereof  they  told  seve- 
ral wonders,  and  it  was  always  loaded  with  offerings;  nor  did  they 
doubt  of  its  having  something  divine.  We  find  they  had  likewise 
among  them,  consecrated  groves,  much  like  all  the  rest  of  the 
idolatrous  world — Their  Idols,  often  monstrous,  as  in  the  old 
continent,  either  charged  with  symbols  like  those  we  call  Pant/teas, 
or  sometimes  even  resembling  those  of  Priafius,  prove,  that  the 
people  i  am  speaking  of,  were  nothing  short  of  the  old  inhabi- 
tants of  the  old  world,  in  the  extravagance  of  their  idolatry  and 
fables.  Their  veneration  for  Idols,  which  are  nothing  but  either 
mis-shapen  stones,  or  sometimes  of  a  conical  figure,  is  a  farther 
proof,  that  their  idolatry  resembled  that  of  the  ancients,  who,  be- 
fore the  art  of  sculpture,  paid  honours  to  such  like  slones,  or  sim- 
ple pillars,  as  we  shall  see  elsewhere. 
•  As  for  what  relates  to  sorceries,  conjurations, 

1  heir  supersti-    diviners,  and  enchantments,   the   people    of  the 
tions,     religious 
rites  and  persua-    new  World  resemble  but  too  much  those  of  the 

sions; Old.    Their  belief  was  every  where   the  same 

about  the  benevolent  and  malignant  Genii,  of 
whom  the  universe  was  imagined  to  be  full;  over  whom  presided, 
as  Lord  and  sovereign  of  the  other  Gods,  the  Manitou  of  the  Al- 
gonquine  nations,  the  Chemien  of  the  Caribbees,  the  Okki  or  the 
Ares-Kvui  of  the  Flurons.  As  for  the  festivals  and  mysteries,  we 


INTRODUCTION',  53 


COSMOGONY    OF    THE    ABORIGINAL    AMERICANS. 

shall  find  by  reading  the  author  I  just  now  quoted,  that  those  of 
the  Americans  had  a  great  affinity  with  the  orgies  of  the  Greeks. 
As  to  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  its  state  after  death,  the  sa- 
vages thought  much  the  same  way  with  the  Greeks,  even  at  the 
time  when  they  were  most  civilized.  Did  not  the  Americans  be- 
lieve that  the  souls  of  the  wicked  were  condemned  to  dwell  in 
certain  Lukes,  miry  and  loathsome,  as  the  Greeks  sent  them  to 
wander  along  the  banks  of  Styx  and  Acheron  ?  Was  it  not  like- 
wise their  opinion  that  the  souls  of  those  who  had  led  a  regular 
life,  had  places  of  delightful  abode,  -which  hore  a  considerable 
•  resemblance  to  the  Elysian  Jiclds?  They  have,  like  the  old  Ro- 
mans, their  women  hired  to  mourn  at'  funerals,  and  like  them 
celebrated  feasts  for  the  dead;  and  what  is  still  more  surprising, 
they  distinguish,  like  the  Greeks,  between  the  soul  and  its  shade 
or  phantom,  and  believe  that  while  the  soul  is  in  a  happy  mansion, 
the  shade  is  hovering  about  the  place  of  interment. 
======  The  sacred  fire,  preserved  by  almost  every 


"  nation  of  the  world,  as  I  shall  shew  in  the  article 
of  Vesta,  was  also  the  object  of  the  superstitious 
worship  of  the  Americans.  The  nations  most  adjoining  to  Asia, 
have  temples,  where  the  sacred  fi  re  is  carefully  preserved;  and 
these  temples  are  mostly  built  in  a  round  form,  as  were  those  of 
Vesta.  In  Louisiana,  'the  Natchez  had  one  of  them,  where  a  guard 
watched  continually  for  the  preservation  of  the  fire,  which  is  never 
suffered  to  go  out.  Every  body  knows  how  famous  those  -temples 
were  under  the  reign  of  the  Yncas;  but  what  appeared  very  sur- 
prising, was  those  companies  of  virgins  set  apart  for  the  service 
of  the  Sun,  whose  laws  were  even  more  severe  than  those  of  the 
Roman  -vestals;  and  the  punishments,  when  they  broke  their  vows, 
precisely  the  same,  since  they  were  buried  ali-ve.  They  who  had 
debauched  them  were  punished  with  far  more  rigour  than  at 
Rome,  since  the  punishment  extended  not  only  to  the  whole  fa- 
mily, but  even  to  the  place  where  they  were  born;  its  whole  inha- 
bitants were  utterly  extirpated,  nor  did  they  leave  so  much  as  one 
stone  in  it  upon  another.  The  sacred  fire  was  equally  revered  in 
Mexico,  and  committed  to  the  care  of  vestals,  who  letTa  very  re- 
gular life;  and  if  the  savages-  of  this  vast  continent  had  not  all  of 
them  temples  to  maintain  it  there,  the  halls  of  their  counsel, 
made  much  after  the  fashion  of  the  Prytanea  of  the  Greeks, 


INTRODUCTION. 


COSMOGONY    OF    THE    ABORIGINAL    AMKRICANS. 

were  employed  foi  this  use,  chiefly  among  the  Iroquois  and  the 

Huron  s. 

'•i—    .  Would  it  have  been  consistent  with  the  cor- 

Their    human    mption  of  the  human  heart,  not  to  place  upon  the 
sacrinces; — a  pa-         '  .  .  .  . 

rallel.  altars,  every  thing  that  soothed  vice' and  irregu- 

.  laihy  of  manners?    The  custom   of  sacrificing 

upon  nigh  places,  a  custom  so  ancient,  and  whereof  the  prophets 
so  often  accuse  the  idolatrous  nations,  was  likewise  known  among 
the  Americans.  To  be  convinced  of  this,  we  need  only  read  the 
relations  of  ROCHE^ORT,  is  the  place  where  he  speaks  of  the 
mountain  Olaimi,  upon  which  the  Apalachites,a  people  of  Florida,  , 
offer  sacrifices  yearly  to  the  Sun,  in  a  cavern  which  serves  for  a 
temp,le  to  this  divinity. — The  sacrifices  of  these  savages  were  at 
first  very  simple,  as  they  were  among  the  Jirimitive  Idolaters  of  the 
old  world;  and  this  simplicity  still  remains  among  some  of  their 
nations,  where  they  content  themselves  with  offering  up  to  the 
Gods,  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  or  with  making  libations  to  them  of 
water;  others  hang  upon  trees  or  pillars,  the  skins  of  the  beasts 
they  have  slain  in  hunting;  there  are  of  them  who  throw  some 
leaves  of  tobacco  into  the  fire,  in  honour  of  the  Sun,  and  into  the 
rivers  and  streams  to  appease  the  Genii  that  preside  over  them. 
Those  of  the  Caribbee  islands  offer  up  the  cassave  and  the  ouicou, 
that  is,  their  bread  and  their  drink,  to  the  Gods  who  are  the  guar- 
dians of  these  plants,  as  the  Greeks  and  the  other  nations  offered 
their  sacrifices  to  Bacchus  and  Ceres.  What  though  the  names  of 
those  Gods  are  not  the  same  in  either  continent,  the  ideas  are 
still  the  same,  and  it  is  precisely  the  same  kind  of  idolatry!  But 
with  these  savages,  as  with  other  nations,  these  ancient  manners 
not  having  always  subsisted  in  that  primitive  simplicity  which  is 
the  characteristic  of  the  first  ages  of  the  world;  they,  like  the  Pa- 
gans of  the  old  continent,  carried  superstition  to  the  length  of 
sacrificing  human  victims.  The  sacrifices  of  this  sort  were  in  use 
especially  in  Mexico;  and  though  they  were  less  known  among  the 
other  savages,  yet  there  were  of  them  however,  who,  at  certain 
seasons  of  the  year,  offered  their  children  to  the  Gods,  who  watched 
ovei  the  fruits  •  t  ;iie  earth.  1  "!-e  relation  of  LE  MOYNE  informs 
us,  thu't  in  Florida  the  aborigines  look-ed  upon  the  Sun  as  the  father 
of  their  chiefs;  offered  up  to  that  luminary,  their  great  Divinity, 
their  children  in  sacrifice;  as  the  Canaanites  sacrificed  them  to 


INTRODUCTION. 


COSMOGONY    OF    THE    ABORIGINAL    AMERICANS. 

their  Moloch,  who  was  likewise  the  Sun,  only  with  this  difference 
in  the  ceremony,  that  the  latter  burned  them  in  a  furnace  which 
was  contrived  within  their  Idol,  as  I  shall  shew  in  speaking  of  that 
God;  whereas  the  former  knocked  them  on  the  head  in  the  midst 
of  an  assembly  of  the  people,  and  in  the  firesence  of  the  Chief,  who 
himself  represented  the  God  who  was  believed  to  be  his  father. — 
The  sacrifices  in  the  new  World,  as  in  the  Old,  were  accompani- 
ed with  instruments,  with  dances,  and  with  all  the  marks  of  public 
rejoicings — but  I  will  not  carry  this  parrallel  any  farther,  which 
would  oblige  me  to  copy  the  work  which  I  have  cited,  where  the 
learned  author  descends  to  a  very  particular  detail. — What  I  have 
said  is  sufficient  to  shew,  that  the  mind  of  man,  leff  merely  to  its 
own  light,  is  carried  out  to  nothing  but  error  and  delusion;  and  that 
in  spite  of  the  refinement  of  the  best  regulated  nations,  their  sen- 
timents have  been  pretty  much  the  same  all  the  world  over,  where 
they  wanted  the  knowledge  of  the  true  religion. 
'  In  fine,  there  are  few  countries,  where  much 

continued  in  re-  the  same  fables  nave  not  been  founc]:  every  where 
gard  to  other  sa-  .  • 

vage  nations,  ideas  of  things  no  where  found  in  nature;  an  ex- 

1  traordinary  race  of  men,  who  called  themselves 

the  sons  of  Heaven,  or  of  the  stars,  or  of  the  rivers,  &cc.;  every 
•where  cheats,  who  wanted  to  carry  on  imposture,  by  the  story  of  a 
singular  and  extraordinary  birth..  The  Egyptians  and  the  Pheni- 
cians,  from  whom  the  Greek  and  Romans  derived  their  fables,  are 
not  the  only  people  who  have  invented  them:  there  are  some  that 
bear  a  resemblance  to  theirs,  to  be  found  among  nations  that  can- 
not be  suspected  of  having  borrowed  from  them.  Kaisou-ven  boast- 
ed, that  he  was  born  of  a  river-God,  the  more  easily  to  delude  the 
people  of  Corea  by  the  dazzling  idea  of  this  imaginary  birth.  The 
Coreans  must  needs  have  attributed  Divinity  to  the  rivers  and 
mountains,  like  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  since  upon  their  becom- 
ing tributary  to  China,  the  emperor  confirmed  their  king  in  the 
privilege  he  enjoyed  of  sacrificing  alone  to  the  rivers  and  moun- 
tains. The  origin  of  one  nation  of  the  eastern  Tartars,  named 
Kao-Kiuli,  of  the  race  of  the  Fou-  Ya,  bears  a  considerable  resem- 
blance, in  respect  to  the  fables  with  which  it  is  5ntermixed,'to  our 
fictions  in  the  western  world;  and  the  Roman  history,  notwithstand- 
ing its  being  so  grave  and  serious,  presents  us  with  notions  near 
akin  to  what  I  am  going  to  relate  of  the  former. — The  prince  of 


56  INTRODUCTION. 


COSMOGONY    OF    THE    ABORIGINAL    AMERICANS. 

the  Kao-Kiuli  had  in  his  dominions  a  daughter  of  the  God  Hohang- 
Ho,  whom  he  kept  shut  up  in  a  prison.  One  day  as  she  was  struck 
with  the  reflections  of  the  Sun-beams,  she  conceived;  and  she 
brought  forth  an  egg,  which  they  broke,  and  in  it  they  found  a 
male  child.  When  he  was  grown  up,  they  gave  him  the  name  of 
Tchu-Mong,  which  imports  a  good  /lilot.  The  king  of  the  country, 
\vho  took  a  liking  to  him,  one  day  carried  him  out  to  hunt,  and 
seeing  his  address,  became  jealous  of  him;  which  Tchu-Mong  per- 
ceiving, fled  from  him;  and  being  ready  to  fall  into  the  hands  of 
those  who  pursued  him,  at  the  passage  of  a  river,  he  addressed 
his  prayer  to  the  Sun  his  father:  then  thejishes  of  the  river  raising 
up  to  the  surface  of  the  water,  supplied  him  with  a  bridge,  on 
which  he  crossed  over. — What  is  there  in  this  more  .extravagant, 
than  in  the  fables  of  Perseus's  birth,  and  that  of  Leda's  children? 
If  we  know  nations  that  sacrificed,  their  children  to  their  false  Dei- 
ties; and  if  the  Greeks  offered  up  Ifihigenia  to  procure  a  favoura- 
ble wind;  are  we  not  told  by  Du  HALDE  of  most  the  ancient  histories 
wherein  we  may  read  of  islanders  in  the  eastern  sea,  who  during 
the  seventh  Moon  of  every  year,  used  solemnly  to  drown  a  young 
•virgin?  If  the  Romans  fabled  that  their  Janus  had  two,  nay  four 
faces,  as  is  to  be  seen  upon  ancient  monuments,  have  not  the  Indi- 
ans their  idol  Menifius,  who  has  many  heads  of  different  shapes? 
Does  it  not  pass  current  among  the  same  Indians,  that  there  is  a 
country  where  men  have  two  visages;  that  withal,  they  are  ex- 
tremely wild  and  untractable;  that  they  speak  no  language,  and  suf- 
fer themselves  to  die  for  hunger  when  they  are  taken:  they  add, 
that  they  had  taken  one  of  them  clad  in  linen,  who  rose  out  of  the 
sea;  a  story  not  much  unlike  to  that  of  Cannes,  which  we  have 
mentioned  above.  If  the  Egyptians,  and  after  them  PYTHAGORAS, 
taught  the  Metempsychosis;  is  not  the  same  doctrine  spread  over 
all  the  Indies,  and  is  it  not  the  foundation  of  the  idolatry  of  foe? 
Which  is  so  far  true,  that  the  great  Lama,  who  calls  himself  a 
living  Foe,  gives.it  out,  that  he  has  been  born  several  times,  and 
that  he  shall  be  born  again;  insomuch  that  when  he  dies,  they 
make  diligent  search  for  the  child  whose  figure  he  reassumes, 
that  they  may  substitute  him  in  his  room:  and  though  it  is  easy  to 
see,  that  this  is  a  child  he  has  artfully  provided  to  succeed  him, 
the  mystery  whereof  is  well  known  to  the  other  Lamas  his  confi- 
dants, yet  this  farce  has  been  acted  for  several  ages,  without  being 


INTRODUCTION.  57 


PAGAN    THEOLOGY. 


suspected  by  the  people.  We  shall  remark,  when  we  are  upon  the 
origin  of  the  fables,  that  numbers  of  them  had  been  introduced  by 
means  of  a  gross  kind  of  philosophy;  perhaps  there  never  was  one 
in  Greece  of  so  extraordinary  a  nature  as  was  that  of  the  Chinese 
philosophers,  with  relation  to  the  ebbing  and  flowing  of  the  Sea.  A 
princess,  said  they, had  an  hundred  children;  fifty  of  them  dwelt  along 
the  Sea-shore,  and  the  other  fifty  in  the  mountains:  hence  came  two 
great  nations,  who  are  often  at  war  together;  when  the  inhabitants 
of  the  shores  get  the  better  of  those  in  the  mountains,  and  put  them 
to  flight,  the  sea  flows;  when  they  are  repulsed  by  them,  and  fly 
from  the  mountains  towards  the  shores,  the  Sea  ebbs.  This  manner 
of  philosophizing,  says  M.  FONTENELLE,  is  not  unlike  the  meta- 
morfihoses  of  OVID:  so  true  it  is,  that  the  same  ignorance  has  pro- 
duced the  same  effects  in  every  nation  — Such  are  the  Cosmogonies 
and  Theogonies  of  the  most  ancient  nations.  Others  whose  religion 
and  fables  ate  considered  in  the  sequel  of  this  work,  though  sunk 
in  an  abyss  of  the  grossest  idolatry,  yet  had  not  a  genius  philoso- 
phical enough  to  form  any  conceptions  about  the  formation  of  the 
world,  or  the  origin  of  the  Gods,  whom  they  contented  themselves 
to  worship  according  to  the  tradition  of  their  country. 


Of  the  Pagan  Theology  in  general,  and  that  of  the  Poets  in 
particular. 


Its    absurdity 


Having  represented  the  different  Theogonies 

jlts  £ Dsumity    of  the  ancients,  peculiar  to  every  nation;  it  may 
and     the     argu-  '  « 

ments  of  the  Fa-    be  of  use  to  shew  more  particularly  the  general 

thers  compel  the     Theology  of  the  Pagan  world,  especially  that  of 
Philosophers     to       ,       .__        ,  '  „  . 

explain  it  by  al-     the  Greek  poets — My  design  is  not  to  lay  open 
legory.  all  its  abominations;  for  this  would  now  be  use- 

less: the  primitive  fathers  of  the  church,  and  the 
defenders  of  the  Christian  religion,  as  they  found  themselves  ne- 
cessarily engaged  in  that  task,  in  order  to  sap  the -foundations  of 
Paganism,  which  was  the  predominant  religion  of  their  times, 
they  acquitted  themselves  in  it  with  so  much  learning  and  strength 
of  argument,  that  they  at  last  obliged  the  most  knowing  philoso- 
phers, to  explain  by  allegories,  oftentimes  ingenious,  a  system, 


58  INTRODUCTION. 


PAGAN    THEOLOGY. 


the  bare  representation  whereof  was  shocking.  To  this  dilemma 
they  were  reduced  by  JUSTIN;  ARNOBIUS;  ATHENAGORAS;  LAC- 
TANTIUS;  CLEMENS  ALEXANDRINUS;  MINUTIUS  FELIX;  but 
above  all  by  TERTULLIAN  in  his  Apologetics,  one  of  the  most 
excellent  performances  antiquity  has  left  us;  and  by  S.  AUGUS- 
TINE in  his  book  of  the  City  of  God,  a  work  which,  abstracted  from 
the  other  views  of  the  author,  may  be  considered- as  a  treasure  of 
profane  literature.  To  speak  accurately,  the  philosophers  did  not 
wait  for  the  time  of  those  great  men  I  have  been  naming,  to  per- 
ceive the  absurdity  of  their  Theology.  Allegory  had  been  intro- 
duced to  help  out  the'  monstrous  fables  that  were  intermixed 
with  religion,  upwards  of  400  years  before  the' Christian  aera. 
PLATO  had  brought  it  in  fashion,  and  his  disciples  improved  it: 
nay  PYTHAGORAS,  long  before  PLATO'S  days,  had  represented  the 
established  religion  of  his  time  in  such  a  light,  as  made  its  absur- 
dity partly  disappear.  This  way  of  allegorizing  was  never  more 
in  vogue  than  in  the  time  of  JAMELICUS  and  PORPHYRY,  who 
lived  both  of  them  in  the  first  ages  of  Christianity.  But  every 
body  knows  the  little  success  which  attended  the  allegorical 
manner  of  explaining  the  fables  and  mysteries  of  religion;  and, 
that  notwithstanding  the  subtilties  of  the  philosophers  who  used 
it,  that  same  religion,  and  the  fables  upon  which  it  was  founded, 
still  continued,  even  to  the  entire  destruction  of  itself,  in  one 
quarter  of  the  world  at  least. 

..  VARRO  distinguished  Theology  into  three  parts, 

The  Pagan  The-  istj  ihe  fabulous,  2d,  the  natural,  and  3d,  the/zo- 
giushed  by  Varro  UticaL  Tih&Jirst  was  the  Theology  of  the  poets; 
into  three  parts,  the  second  that  of  the  philosophers;  and  the  third 
n  that  of  the  ministers  of  religion.  VARRO  endea- 
voured to  promote  this  distinction,  whereof  the  high-priest  Q. 
SC.KVOLA  is  thought  to  have  been  the  founder,  the  same  who  was 
slain  by  one  of  those  assassins  employed  by  Marius. —  1st,  The 
Theology  of  the  poets  was  rejected  by  the  wiser  Pagans.  VARRO, 
as  we  have  it  from  S.  AUGUSTINE,  acknowledged  that  it  imputed 
to  their  Gods,  actions,  which  one  would  have  blushed  to  ascribe  to 
the  vilest  men.  2d,  VARUO  did  not  condemn  the  second  kind  of 
Theology,  that  of  the  philosophers;  but  he  was  of  opinion,  it  ought 
to  be  confined  to  the  schools,  because  it  reasoned  with  freedom 
upon  the  nature  of  the  Gods,  which-  according  t-o  him.  hail  a  dan- 


INTRODUCTION.  59 


PAGAN    THEOLOGY. 


gerous  tendency.  3d,  The  third  kind  of  Theology  made  up  the 
system  of  religion,  and  was  the  foundation  of  the  worship  paid  to 
the  Gods;  and  if  it  was  not  the  most  esteemed  by  the  abler  judges, 
it  was  at  least  the  most  venerable,  and  the  only  one  that  was  fol- 
lowed in  practice. 

Though  the  Theology  of  the  jioets  was  explo- 

ded'  as  we  have  seen;  yet  "  has  found 


sans  make  a  pa-    in   these    last    ages.     Several    modern    authors, 

rallel  of  it  with    charmed  with  the  fine  strokes  that  occur  in  the 

the  sacred  writ. 

======^==    works  ot  the  poets,  concerning  the  most  sublime 

truths,  have  spoken  of  them  in  such  high  strains  6f  encomium, 
that  it  would  seem  they  consider  them  as  the  most  excellent  di- 
vines. Father  THOMASSIN  has  been  at  great  pains  to  collect  what- 
ever they  have  said  upon  divinity  and  upon  morality,  and  he 
thinks  he  has  discovered  in  them  several  passages  conformable  to 
holy  writ,  and  to  the  light  of  nature.  The  author  of  the  book  en- 
titled, Homer  Hebraizing,  has  not  contented  himself  with  consi- 
dering the  poets  as  great  divines;  he  has  undertaken  to  prove, 
that  HOMER,  in  both  his  poems,  had  in  several  places  copied 
MOSES  and  the  prophets.  A  celebrated  English  author,  CUD- 
WORTH,  after  he  has  cried  up  the  Theology  of  the  poets,  that  of 
ORPHEUS  especially,  recites  the  finest  of  their  sentiments  upon 
the  divinity.  In  fine,  a  modern  author,  whose  works  have  occa- 
sioned his  being  more  than  once  disgraced,  has  gone  further  than 
any  I  have  yet  named,  since  in  his  remarks  upon  VIRGIL,  he 
makes  no  scruple  of  preferring  that  poet  to  most  of  our  divines; 
alleging,  that,  with  respect  to  providence  and  the  Deity,  his  sen- 
timents are  most  orthodox.  He  has  even  had  the  presumption  to 
compare  the  conduct  of  Jupiter  in  relation  to  ^ENEAS,  with  that 
of  GOD  in  respect  to  DAVID.  According  to  these  authors,  piety, 
and  the  worship  of  the  true  GOD,  are  taught  in  a  sublime  manner, 
in  the  works  of  these  poets;  and  nearly  all  the  most  essential 
truths  are  there  to  be  found,  though  veiled  under  sensible  images. 
Thus,  to  single  out  some  of  these  truths,  among  others,  they  find, 
the  unity  of  a  God;  his  omnipotence;  his  infinite  goodness;  his 
immensity;  his  eternity.  The  council  of  the  Gods,  which  HOMER 
speaks  of,  where  Jufiiter  always  presides,  is,  according  to  them, 
an  imitation  of  those  mysterious  councils,  which  God,  in  the 
H 


60  INTRODUCTION. 


PAGAN    THEOLOGY. 


Book  of  Job,  holds  with  the  dngrls.  When  they  tell  us,  that  all 
good  and  evil  came  from  the  hand  of  God,  by  the  ministration  of 
subaltern  Deities;  this  is  a  copy  of  what  the  scripture  says  of  the 
Angels,  who  are  his  ministers.  When  they  give  Jupiter  such  a 
peculiar  pre-eminence,  it  is  evident,  that  under  this  name  they 
understood  the  true  God,  and  not  Jupiter  the  son  of  Saturn  and 
king  of  Crete.  In  fine,  when  ARATUS  says,  all  is  full  of  God, 
the  earth,  the  sea,  the^?c/rfs,  and  man  himself;  or,  as  S.  PAUL  ex- 
presses himself,  in  the  precise  words  of  this  poet,  sumus  genus 
Dei,  in  i/iso  -vivimus,  movemur,  et  sumus,  is  it  not  evident,  that  he 
must  needs  be  speaking  of  the  immensity  of  GOD? — To  these 
speculative  truths,  the  authors  I  mention  join  others  which  are 
practical;  and  think  the  poets  have  settled,  not  only  what  duties 
we  owe  to  God,  but  those  of  men  to  one  another,  as  well  as  the 
other  purely  moral  precepts.  Their  infernal  regions,  and  their 
Elyxianjiclds,  they  say,  are  proper  restraints  from  lust,  and  incen- 
tives to  the  practice  of -virtue.  Those  Judges,  who  examine  with 
so  much  severity  the  actions  of  men;  and  the  Furies,  who  chastise 
the  guilty  with  such  rigour;  could  all  this  have  been  contrived 
without  a  deep  insight  into  morality?  In  fine,  to  represent  the 
sentiment  of  these  authors  in  a  few  words,  it  suffices  to  say,  that 
upon  all  occasions  they  rack  their  invention  to  draw  parallels  be- 
tween the  truths  they  find  in  the  fiocts,  and  those  in  the  sacred 
writings. 
•-•  I  own,  for  my  part,  the  reading  of  the  poets 

Why  we  should    ,         •  it    another  idea  of  their  Theolo- 

entcrtam    a  very 

different  senti-  gy-  It  is  true,  they  sometimes  speak  of  the  Di- 
ment  of.  their  vinitv  jn  a  sublime  manner,  but  they  are  by  no 
Theology. 

..  means  consistent  with  themselves  upon  this  sub- 

ject; and  after  they  have  given  their  Gods  the  magnificent  epi- 
thets of  immortal,  omnipotent,  8cc.,  they  represent  them  with  im- 
perfections, which,  as  has  been  said,  belong  only  to  the  worst  and 
most  corrupt  of,  men.  Insomuch  that  I  am  astonished,  how  learn- 
ed men  can  so  highly  extol  their  Theology,  while  PLATO,  for 
this  same  Theology,  which  to  him  appeared  so  monstrous,  banish- 
ed them  from  his  Commonwealth.  CICEKO  had  not  such  favourable 
thoughts  of  the  poets,  as  the  authors  I  have  spoken  of;  on  the 
contrary,  he  censures  them  for  setting  before  us  the  debaucheries 
of  the  Gods,  their  quarrels,  their  battles,  their  dissentions,  their 


INTRODUCTION.  61 


PAGAN    THEOLOGY. 


adulteries,  Sec. — It  is  true,  that  they.style  these  fabulous  Gods  of 
theirs  immortal,  but  at  the  same  time  there  is  not  one  of  them  of 
whose  genealogy,  they  have  not  informed  us;  they  name  their 
fathers,  their  mothers,  the  place  of  their  birth,  and»ll  the  circum- 
stances of  their  life  from  their  infancy;  sometimes  they  speak  of 
their  sepulchres  loo.  In  HOMER,  the  greatest  of  their  poets,  we 
see  the  Gods  squabbling  together,  falling  foul  of  one  another, 
wounded  by  mortals,  and  pouiing  forth  shrieks  and  lamentations 
at  seeing  their  blood  shed:  they  are  every  now  and  then  giving 
gross  abusive  language;  instance  Jupiter  and  Juno  represented 
eternally  at  odds,  a  thing  so  scandalous  between  husband  and  wife. 
EURIPIDES,  willing  to  excuse  Phxlra,  who  had  conceived  a  vio- 
lent passion  for  the  son  of  her  husband,  throws  the  blame  upon 
Venus,  who  wanted  to  revenge,  upon  Hippolytus,  the  contempt 
he  had  thrown  upon  her  worship  and  votaiies.  Another  tradition 
which  RACINE  has  followed,  no  less  dishonourable  for  Venus, 
intimated  that  she  was  thus  taking  her  revenge  upon  the  Sun, 
.F7«rrfra'sgreat-God-father,for  having  discovered  her  intrigue  with 
the  God  Mars;  and  it  is  from  the  same  motive  of  resentment, 
that  this  Goddess  had  inspired  Pasiphae,  Phaedra's  mother,  with 
that  infamous  passion  which  made  so  much  noise.  In  the  same 
play,  EURIPIDES  brings  in  Diana  to  comfort  Hififiolytus  in  his 
dying  moments,  the  Goddess  telling  him  that  she  could  not  in- 
deed reverse  the  order  of  destiny,  but  to  give  him  revenge,  she 
would  kill  one  of  Venus' s  gallants  with  her  own  hand.  These 
then  are  their  powerful  Gods,  subjected  to  the  fates,  and  not  be- 
ing able  to  accomplish  all  the  mischief  they  -would,  perpetrate 
that  which  they  can.  What  thoughts  can  one  have  of  a  Theology, 
•whose  end  being  to  exalt  man  to  the  Gcds,  has  depressed  these 
same  Gods,  I  say,  not  only  to  the  condition  of  men,  but  even  to 
their  greatest  frailties?  Can  any  thing  be  conceived  more  fantas- 
tical? What  shall  we  say  of  that  mixture  of  power  and  weakness, 
of  eternity  and  death,  of  happiness  and  misery,  of  tranquillity  and 
disturbance?  What  shall  we  think  of  the  railleries  which  ARIS- 
TOPHANES throws  out  against  the  Gods  in  some  of  his  comedies, 
and  of  the  blasphemies  which  JLSCHYLUS  pours  forth  against  them 
in  his  Prometheus? 


6iJ  INTRODUCTION. 


PAGAN    THEOLOGY. 


•  But,  it  is  said,  the  poets  speak  often  of  the/jro- 

confii-med  by  de-    vidence  of  the  Gods,  and  of  the  care  they  exercise 
auctions        from  ' , 

HOMER'S  account  overmen.  What  providence:  let  us  single  out 
of  the  Trojan  war.  one  of  tne  subjects  of  fable  where  it  is  most  con- 
spicuous, a  subject  described  by  the  greatest  of 
poets  with  peculiar  care;  I  mean  the  Trojan  war.  This  war  de- 
stroyed multitudes  of  people,  and  ruined  a  flourishing  kingdom; 
it  was  attended  with  miseries  without  number,  with  seditions, 
broils,  and  all  the  other  companions  of  sweeping  desolation.  All 
the  Gods  took  part  in  it;  Heaven  was  divided  into  two  factions: 
there  was  no  plot,  no  stratagem,  no  sly  artifice,  but  every  one  of 
the  Gods  put  in  practice.  To  be  sure  they  can't  be  accused  of  being 
idle  during  the  course  of  this  war;  their  firovidence  was  sufficient- 
ly employed.  HOMER  describes  all  their  motions  in  the  fullest 
manner;  and  the  other  poets  have  followed  his  example.  Here 
then  is  a  proper  point  of  view,  whence  we  may  clearly  discern 
their  theological  senli?nents  about  firo-vidence:  let  us  see  then  what 
was  the  motive  of  this  war;  let  us  trace  it  back  to  its  source.  Was 
the  chastising  an  impious  nation,  the  thing  in  question?  was  it  to 
avenge  oppressed  innocence,  or  the  indignities  offered  to  the 
Gods  themselves?  or  to  give  the  world  a  signal  example  of  justice 
and  equity?  Nothing  like  it:  but  to  glut  the  resentment  of  a  God- 
dess, for  a  slight  put  upon  her  beauty,  was  all  the  affair;  the  story 
is  this— At  the  marriage  of  Thetis  and  Peleus,  an  afifile  is  thrown 
by  Discord,  for  the  fairest  of  the  company.  The  Gods  not  daring 
to  make  themsehes  umpires  in  the  difference  that  arises  upon 
this  occasion  between  three  Goddesses,  send  them  to  Phrygia,  to 
get  the  decision  of  a  YOUNG  SHEPHERD  who  was  renowned  for 
equity.  The  SHEPHERD,  whom  each  of  the  three  Goddesses  would 
fain  corrupt  by  magnificent  promises,  decides  in  favour  of  Venus; 
she  being  actually  the  greatest  beauty,  nothing  could  be  said 
against  the  equity  of  his  sentence:  yet  here  was  enough  to  exas- 
perate the  other  two.  Juno,  the  wise  Juno,  from  that  moment  re- 
solves upon  the  destruction,  not  of  PARIS  only,  though  even  that 
had  been  a  very  unjust  piece  of  icvenge,  but  of  the  whole  empire 
of  PRIAM  his  father,  and  of  all  Phrygia.  The  rape  of  HELEN,  who 
had  been  betrothed  to  PARIS,  became  the  signal  pretence  of  a 
bloody  war:  all  Gieece  rises  in  arms,  while  Juno  leaves  no  stone 
unturned  to  engage  all  the  powers  above  in  her  interest;  she 


INTRODUCTION.  63 


PAGAN    THEOLOGY. 


makes  use  of  a  thousand  stratagems  to  bring  over  the  other  G>  ds, 
and  gives  them  the  most  insinuating  promises;  she  runs  over  all 
the  cities  of  Greece  to  animate  them  to  the  war,  Troy  Z'A  besieged) 
and  for  a  course  of  ten  years  the  queen  of  the  Gods  plays  the  game 
of  a  woman  quite  frantic,  and  tries  to  lay  her  husband  asleep,  that 
he  may  not  see  the  overthrow  of  the  Trojans,  or  impede  her  de- 
praved revenge.  Minerva  has  the  contrivance  of  the  wooden  horse; 
Juno  appears  in  arms,  and  herself  throws  open  the  gates  of  the 
city,  rouses  the  Greeks,  too  cool  for  her  vengeance;  while  Ne/itune, 
her  ally,  beats  down  the  walls  with  his  trident.  The  Greeks  enter 
the  town,  a  thousand  disorders  are  there  committed,  which  it  is 
unnecessary  to  describe:  but  we  must  not  forget,  that  VIRGIL  is  at 
great  pains  to  let  us  see,  that  they  are  to  be  attributed  to  the  wrath 
and  revenge  of  the  Gods.  Troy  is  i  educed  to  ashes;  PARIS,  PRIAM 
and  the  rest  of  his  family  are  massacred  or  made  slaves. 

•         Thus  it  was  full  time  for  the  wrath  of  Juno  to 

^Jas™nd*Tur.  be  aPPeased>  But  wilh  th^  Poels'  a  Goddess, 
nus,  in  Italy;  whose  beauty  has  been  injured,  is  not  so  easily 

"  atoned.  They  represent  her  pursuing  the  remains 
of  the  fugitive  Trojans  with  implacable  rage;  she  will  needs  cut 
them  off  from  that  retreat  in  Italy,  which  was  promised  them  by 
the  fates.  Here  she  meanly  supplicates  yEo/ws,  a  subaltern  Di- 
vinity, to  move  him  to  raise  a  storm,  contrary  to  the  orders  of 
Nefitune,  who  had  changed  sides,  and  whose  firovidcnce  was  then 
interested  for  the  Trojans.  Sometimes  she  endeavours  to  detain 
JENEAS  in  Africa  by  the  charms  of  pleasure:  there  she  makes 
Iris  appear  under  the  figure  of  Beroe,  to  oblige  the  Trojan  ma- 
trons to  burn  their  fleet.  No  sooner  has  ./ENEAS  arrived  in  Italy, 
than  she  despatches  the  Furies  to  TURNUS  and  AMATA,  to  excite 
them  to  expel  him  their  country,  and  kindles  a  bloody  war;  and 
not  being  able  absolutely  to  hinder  the  execution  of  the  orders  of 
destiny,  she  strives  at  least  to  retard  it  by  all  sorts  of  means.  As 
the  decree  of  destiny  intimated,  that  LAVINIA  was  to  be  married 
to  the  Trojan'HERo,  she  will  needs  cause  him  to  pay  her  dowry 
in  the  blood  of  an  infinite  number  of  his  own  countrymen. — Every 
body  knows  what  this  Goddess  did  to  support  TURNUS'S  party, 
and  all  the  game  VIRGIL  makes  her  play  in  the  course  of  this 
war.  In  fine,  finding  Destiny  too  powerful  for  her,  as  the  last 
effort  of  her  vengeance,  she  tries  if  Jupiter  will  grant  that  the 


64  INTRODUCTION. 


PAGAN    THEOLOGY. 


Latins  shall  not  assume  the  name  of  the  Trojans  their  conquer- 
ors, th;it  Troii  and  its  memory  might  the  more  easily  be  abolished. 
•  Is  it  possible  to  conceive  a  more  complete  re- 

also  from  num-  ven?ei  Was  ever  resentment  carried  farther!  er 
berless  other  ex-  ....-"•. 

amples,  in  which  was  it  ever  raised  on  a  more  frivolous  foundation! 
thePoets  abound.  £ry  Up  after  tnjs  t|ie  theology  of  the  fioets,  as  to 
"  the  firovidence  of  their  Gods,  and  the  care  which 
they  take  of  the  most  notable  events.  These,  according  to  them, 
are  the  motives  whence  they  act.  Alas!  what  could  they  teach 
more  impious!  What  a  fine  pattern  of  resentment  and  revenge  were 
they  able  to  give,  especially  to  ladies  ivho  idolize  their  beauty!  Were 
I  at  liberty  to  run  over  the  other  examples,  of  which  the  poets  are 
full,  we  should  see  that  the  spring  of  all  the  actions  of  the  Gods  is 
either  revenge-,  or  love,  or  some  other  fiassion:  that  the  true  motive 
of  Jufiiter's  travels  up  and  down  the  earth,  was  nothing  else  but 
to  debauch  some  mistress;  that  while  the  reparation  of  the  disas- 
ters done  by  the  deluge,  or  by  the  conflagration  of  Phaeton,  were 
made  the  pretext,  Calisto  and  Eurofia  were  the  real  occasions  of 
his  pilgrimages:  that  if  Diana  sends  a  boar  to  lay  waste  the  Caly- 
donian  plains,  it  was  owing  to  (XLneus's  having  neglected  her  in  a 
sacrifice:  in  fine,  that  Venus  for  the  same  reason,  afflicted  the 
daughters  of  Tyndarus  with  madness.  If  Niobe's  fourteen  children 
are  killed  before  her  eyes  by  invisible  darts,  it  is  for  her  having 
presumed  to  compare  herself  to  Latona.  If  Cadmus  sees  his 
house  filled  with  disorder  and  blood-shed,  dcteon  his  grandson 
devoured  by  his  dogs,  Pentheus  another  grandson  torn  in  pieces 
by  the  Bacchanals,  and  himself  transformed  into  a  serpent,  the 
reason  of  all  this  cruelty  is,  that  he  had  a  sister  and  a  daughter, 
whose  beauty  had  charmed  Jufiiter,  and  excited  the  jealousy  of 
Juno.  Ino  for  having  nursed  Bacchus,  is  condemned  to  madness, 
together  with  her  husband  Athamas;  the  latter  dashes  his  own  son 
against  a  rock,  and  the  former,  the  unfortunate  queen  of  Thebes, 
throws  herself  headlong  into  the  sea  with  Melicertes.  If  Andro- 
meda sees  herself  exposed  to  the  fury  of  a  sea-monster,  it  is  be- 
cause her  mother  had  compared  her  beauty  to  that  of  the  Nereids. 
Venus,  to  be  avenged  of  Diomede,  who  had  wounded  her  at  the 
siege  of  Troy,  made  his  wife  become  a  prostitute.  However 
much  recourse  may  be  had  to  allegory,  yet  what  can  we  think, 
•when  we  see  Cybele,ihe  great  mother  of  the  Gods,  running  after 


INTRODUCTION.  65 


PAGAN    THEOLOGY. 


the  youthful  Atys,  making  so  many  advances  to  captivate  his 
heart,  and  punishing  him  so  severely  for  his  indifference? — Such, 
according  to  the  poets,  are  the  motives  of  revenge  in  the  Gods, 
and  for  the  most  part,  it  is  not  upon  the  guilty  they  inflict  such 
dreadful  punishments;  or  if  that  is  sometimes  the  case,  it  is  not 
in  order  to  reclaim  them,  but  to  render  them  more  criminal. — 
Clio  upbraids  Venus  for  being  so  excessively  fond  of  Adonis;  in- 
stead of  improving  so  wholesome  an  admonition,  the  Goddess 
returns  it  by  wounding  her  with  love  for  a  young  man,  by  whom 
she  had  Hyacinth.  Cyanippus  forgets  Bucchux  in  a  sacrifice,  he 
makes  him  drunk,  in  consequence  of  which,  he  commits  incest. 
The  daughters  of  Prxtus  prefer  their  own  beauty  to  that  of  Juno; 
the  Goddess  turns  them  frantic,  and  makes  them  become  prosti- 
tutes. One  of  the  daughters  of  Danaus  having  gone  to  draw  wa- 
ter for  a  sacrifice,  was  attacked  by  a  Satyr,  who  offered  violence 
to  her;  she  invoked  JVe/itune  to  her  assistance;  who  having  res- 
cued her  from  the  attacks  of  the  Satyr,  made  the  same  assault 
upon  her,  which  she  had  just  now  declined:  miserable  relief  ! 
L  '•  '....  This  now  is  what  the  poets  teach,  in  relation 

Reflections  up-          th     providence  of  tnejr  Gods:   a  providence 
on  the   i  neology 
of  the  poets.  anxious  and  disturbed;  disgraced  by  resentments 

===^^  dreadful  for  exceeding  slight  provocations;  and 
chastisements  not  for  the  punishment  of  vice  or  the  support  of 
virtue,  which  would  be  good  Divinity,  but  inflicted  intentionally 
to  avenge  seme  personal  affront,  not  upon  the  guilty,  but  upon 
the  innocent — or  if  the  guilty  too  are  involved  therein,  it  is  only  to 
make  them  more  wicked  and  abandoned.  You  won't  see  those 
Gods  forward  to  chastise  imfiiety  and  injustice;  they  vent  their 
spite  upon  none  but  those  who  forget  them  in  sacrifice,  or  who 
compare  the  hair  or  complexion  to  that  of  some  Goddess:  like 
those  petty  Lords,  who  have  very  little  concern  that  their  vassals 
be  firojligate  and  licentious,  so  they  do  but  forbear  hunting  upon 
their  grounds,  and  give  presents  from  time  to  time  to  their  •wives'. 
Was  any  thing  more  apt  to  excite  ambition  and  the  most  unjust 
designs,  than  the  history  of  Saturn,  who  had  used  his  father  Ura- 
nus so  ill,  and  that  of  Jupiter  who  had  treated  his  father  in  like 
manner,  and  dethroned  him? — This  would  be  the  proper  place  to 
explain  the  theology  of  the  poets,  with  respect  to  the  morals  of  their 
Gods;  but  I  should  be  afraid  of  disgusting  the  reader,  by  reciting 


INTRODUCTION. 


PAGAN    THEOLOGY. 


their  infamous  characters:  Yet  I  cannot  forbear  expressing  my 
admiration  at  that  Jupiter  of  theirs!  No  chastity  on  earth  was  proof 
against  his  assaults!  no  beastly  figure  he  had  not  assumed  to  en- 
snare sometimes  virtuous  princesses,  sometimes  innocent  shep- 
herdesses!! All  the  other  Gods  were  stained  with  the  like  crimes. 
ARNOBIUS,  LACTANTIUS,  and  the  other  fathers,  bring  a  thousand 
stories  of  those  Gods,  from  the  writings  of  the  poets,  which  are 
shocking  to  modesty.  There  is  no  crime,  disorder,  or  lewdness, 
that  they  were  not  guilty  of;  and  the  poets,  those  fir et ended  sublime 
di-vines,  are  they  who  have  been  at  most  pains  to  perpetuate  their 
memory.  HOMER,  and  after  him  OVID,  tell  us  how  the  Sun  sur- 
prized Mars  and  Venus  in  adultery;  the  last  subjoins  very  loose 
reflections.  In  a  word,  all  the  metamorphoses  he  speaks  of,  are  ra- 
ther monuments  of  the  imperfection  of  the  Gods,  and  of  their  de~ 
baucheries,  than  of  their  providence  and  power.  These  considera- 
tions should  be  a  seasonable  warning  to  all  reasonable  perso'ns  to 
be  upon  their  gu;:rd  against  that  value,  which  so  many  people  have 
for  the  divinity  of  the  poets;  and  shew  those  who  want  to  defend 
them,  that,  excepting  a  few  vague  expressions  that  have  dropped 
from  them  about  the  immortal  essence  of  their  Gods,  their  -vigila nee, 
that  universal  spirit  which  animates  all  things  (a  strain  to  which 
they  by  no  means  keep  up  in  the  rest  of  their  works),  their  whole 
system  consists  in  representing  to  us  Gods  inconstant  and  self-in- 
terested in  their  providence,  turbulent  and  outrageous  in  their  re- 
sentment, debauched  and  infamous'm  their  moral  character, — After 
all  these  preliminaries,  which  I  thought  fining  to  treat  at  some 
length,  it  is  time  to  enter  upon  the  PROPER  SUBJECTS  of  THIS 
VOLUME. 


A 

NEW  SYSTEM 

OF 

MYTHOLOGY 


CHAPTER  I. 

HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY. 

SECTION   FIRST. 
ITS   ORIGIN. 

..  ••  • AT  the  beginning  of  the  world,  men  knew 

thJhchildrenPof  and  served  m}f  °ne  God>  the  CilEATOR,  OMNI- 

God/wre — thatof  POTENT,  ETERNAL.    ADAM,  formed  by  the  im- 
tlie    children    of 

Men  idolatrous.  mediate  agency  ot  the  hands  of  GOD,  preserved 

1  "  the  purest  idea  of  the  Deity  in  his  own  family; 

and  there  need  be  no  doubt  of  its  having  continued  uncorrupted 
in  the  branch  of  SETH  until  the  deluge.  GOD  had  given  our  first 
parents  too  many  manifestations  of  himself,  for  them  to  be  un- 
acquainted with  him-  HE  thought  it  not  enough  to  draw  his 
image  on  the  works  of  nature,  and  to  enlighten  their  minds  by 
the  illuminations  of  his  grace;  he  conversed  with  them,  and  in- 
structed them  either  immediately,  or  by  the  mediation  of  his 
ANGELS:  thus  they  had  the  clearest  and  soundest  idea  of  the  su- 
preme bring,  which  it  is  possible  for  man  to  have;  and  consequently 
the  worship  they  paid  to  GOD,  and  which  he  himself  had  pre- 
scribed: was  pure  and  undefiled. — We  cannot  entertain  the  same 
I 


70  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS  ORIGIN.  SECT.  T. 

belief  in  relation  to  CAIN'S  family:  his  posterity  not  only  fell  into 
idolatry,  but  ii'to  all  the  other  crimes  which  brought  on  the  del- 
uge; whereof  to  be  sure,  idolatry,  which  the  scripture  frequently 
terms  either  fornication  or  adultery,  was  one  of  the  principal 
causes.  The  sons  of  men,  that  is,  according-  to  interpreters,  the 
offspring  of  Cain ,  were  abandoned  to  the  most  infamous  passions. 
With  these  carnal  men,  the  pure  idea  of  an  all-perfect  being  be- 
gan insensibly  to  wear  out,  and  to  be  corrupted  by  that  of  sense: 
thus  they  very  soon  affixed  it  to  sensible  objects;  and  that  which 
appeared  most  beneficial  and  perfect  to  their  eyes,  was  worship- 
ped as  their  greatest  God. 

-'  •    •  The  learned    MAIMONIDES,  in  his    treatise 

Idolatry,  wheth-  .    .        P  .  .... 

er  it  commenced     uPon  t'ie  origin  or  laolatry,  which  is  translated 

before  the  deluge.  i,Uo  Latin  in  a  piece  by  Vossius  upon  the  same 
subject,  thus  expresses  himself:  "  The  first 
origin  of  idolatry  must  be  referred  to  the  time  of  ENDS,  when  . 
UK- 1 1  began  to  study  the  motion  of  the  Sun  and  Moon  and  the 
other  heavenly  bodies,  and  reckoned  them  created  by  GOD  to 
govern  the  world.  They  imagined  GOD  had  set  them  in  the 
heuvens  to  make  them  partake  of  his  own  glory — and  serve 
him  as  ministers;  whence  they  concluded  it  was  their  duty  to 
give  them  honour.  Upon  this  foundation  they  began  to  build 
temples  to  the  Stars,  to  offer  sacrificed  to  them,  and  to  prostrate 
themselves  before  them,  in  ordfer  to  obtain  favours  from  HIM  who 
had  created  them — and  this  was  the  fust  origin  of  idolatry.  Not 
that  they  believed  there  was  no  other  GOD  besides  the  Stars;  but 
they  were  persuaded  that  by  adoring,  them,  they  fulfilled  the  will  of 
the  CREATOR.  In  process  of  time,  however,  certain ./a/se  prophets 
arose,  pretending  to  be  Kent  from  GOD,  and  that  they  had  revela- 
tions for  appointing  such  and  such  a  Star  to  be  worshipped — nay, 
for  appointing  sacrifices  to  be  offered  to  the  whole  host  of  hea- 
ven; they  also  made  figures  of  them  which  they  exposed  to  be 
publicly  worshipped.  Thereupon  they  began  to  set  up  their  repre- 
entalions  in  temples,  under  trees,  and  upon  tbe  tops  of  mmm- 


CHAP.  I  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY  71 

SECT.  I.  ITS   ORIGIN. 

tains.  They  flocked  together  for  their  adoration,  and  the  prosperity 
they  enjoyed  was  attributed  to  the  worship  they  pi.id  to  them. 
Hence  it  came  about,  conlcudes  MAIJIONIDES,  that  the  name  of 
GOD  was  entirely  banished  from  the  hearts  and  mouths  of  men." 
— TEUTULLIAN  also,  believed  idolatry  had  commenced  before  the 
deluge:  and  this  is  likewise  the  sentiment  of  the  generality  of 
the  most  learned  Rabbins.  They  found  it  upon  a  passage  in 
Genesis,  where  it  is  said  of  Exos,  iste  c#/iit  invocare  nomen 
Domini;  which  is  thus  expressed  in  another  version,  tune  firc- 
fanatum  est  in  invocando  nomine  Domini;  and  this  difference 
arises  from  the  word  chalal  in  the  original,  which  equally  im- 
port?, to  begin,  or  to  profane.  But  we  are  not  to  dwell  long  upon 
the  period  which  Jireceded  the  deluge;  a  period  about  which 
MOSES  has  said  little,  and  from  what  he  says  of  it,  we  can  draw 
no  conclusions  with  respect  to  idolatry.  For,  in  short,  the  pas- 
sage they  solely  rely  upon,  is  very  hard  to  be  understood,  and 
would  require  the  discussing  of  some  questions  that  would  lead 
us  too  far  from  our  subject. 

1  However  it  be  as  to  the  beginning  of  idolatry, 

Idolatry,   how  .....                                                         . 

early  restored  af-  certain  it  is,  that  the  knowledge  and  toorshi/i  of 

ten  the  deluge,  the  true  GoD  were  again  united  jn  the  famjj  of 
and  where. 

'"  NOAH,  which  remained  alone  upon  the  earth, 

after  the  deluge.  That  holy  patriarch,  in  gratitude  to  GOD  for  his 
preservation,  offered  him  a  solemn  sacrifice  of  every  clean  animal 
that  came  out  of  the  ark;  and  no  doubt  he  would  be  sure  to  re- 
commend to  his  children  and  grand-children,  to  preserve  \\ith 
veneration  the  worship  prescribed  to  him  by  God  himself.  Thus 
before  the  division  of  tongues,  and  while  the  children  and  grand- 
children of  that  patriarch  made  up  but  one  family  and  people, 
there  is  the  highest  probability  that  this  worship  was  not  altered 
in  its  purity.  NOAH  was  still  alive,  and  was  the  head  of  that  peo- 
ple. In  all  likelihood  therefore,  it  was  not  till  after  the  disper- 
sion of  that  fieo/ile,  that  idolatry  arose;  at  which  period  most  pro- 
bably, while  the  true  religion  was  yet  for  a  long  time  preserved 


72  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS   ORIGIN.  SECT.  I. 

in  some  Lmilies,  especially  in  that  from  which  ABRAHAM  sprung, 
others  abandoned  it  for  the  service  of  vain  idols,  which  their  ig- 
norance, or  rather  the  corruption  of  their  hearts  had  formed.- 

However,  if  we  do  not  date  the  restoration  of  idolatry,  (suppos- 
ing it  had  pre-existed  the  flood)  so  early  as  the  dispersion  of  man- 
kind, we  shall  not  descend  as  low,  to  fix  its  date,  as  the  time  of 
NINUS,  who  was  the  first  who  introduced  that  particular  species 
of  idolatry  only  which  had  for  its  object  the  worship  of  the  manes 
of  great  men — having  built  a  temple  to  the  honour  of  his  father 
BELUS;  for  there  was  an  idolatry  of  much  greater  antiquity  in 
Egypt  and  Phenicia,  and  even  among  the  Chaldeans  or  Babylo- 
nians themselves,  in  their  worship  of  Jire  and  the  heavenly  bodies. 
Doubtless,  very  shortly  after  the  dispersion,  whose  allotment  dis- 
posed Egypt  to  MITZKAIM,  and  Phenicia  to  CANAAN,  two  of  the 
sons  of  the  accursed  HAM,  idolatry  made  its  appearance  in  those 
countries;  whence  it  very  readily  propagated  itself  to  the  east,  the 
north,  and  north-west.  Egypt,  and  Phenicia,  then  were  the  first 
nurseries  of  idolatry:  this  is.  the  opinion  of  EUSEBIUS,  who  had 
not  a  little  examined  into  this  subject;  also  of  LACTANTIUS,  and 
of  CASSIAN,  the  former  of  whom  ascribes  its  original  to  CANAAN, 
and  the  latter  to  MAM  his  father.  This  is  what  several  Rabbins 
have  thought  upon  the  subject,  who  even  reckon  that  those  two 
patriarchs  had  been  idolaters  before  the  deluge.  Vossius  says, 
it  is  beyond  doubt,  that  idolatry  had  its  rise  in  the  family  of  HAM, 
and  by  consequence  in  Egypt;  this  author  adds,  that  it  is  agreed 
to  by  all  the  ancients.  And  without  mentioning  DIODORUS,  and 
several  others,  it  suffices  to  quote  Luc  IAN,  who  says  in  so  many 
words,  that  "  the  Egyptians  were  the  first  who  honoured  the  gods 
and  paid  them  a  solemn  worship."  HERODOTUS,  in  the  beginning 
of  his  history,  is  not  so  positive  on  this  head  as  LUCIAN,  but  what 
he  says  is  much  the  same:  « the  Egyptians,  according  to  this 
learned  historian,  are  the  first  who  knew  the  names  of  the  twelve 
great  Gods,  and  from  them  it  is  that  the  Greeks  learned  them." 
— Indeed  Egypt  has  always  been  early  celebrated  for  idolatry;  so 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY. 

SECT.  II.  ITS    FIHST    OBJECTS. 

it  is  represented  in  several  places  in  scripture:  there  prevailed 
magick,  divination,  auguries,  the  interpretation  of  dreams,  &c, 
the  unhappy  fruits  of  a  superstitious  worship.  Even  in  the  time 
of  MOSES,  idolatry  was  there  at  its  highest  pitch,  which  supposes 
a  great  antiquity;  for,  in  short,  it  requires  a  considerable  time 
before  a  complete  system  of  religion  can  be  established.  MOSES 
even  seems  to  have  given  the  JEWS  such  a  multitude  of  precepts, 
only  to  oppose  them  in  every  thing,  to  the  Egyptian  ceremonies: 
what  concerns  the  sacrifices,  the  use  of  meats,  and  polity,  these 
were  established  merely  to  keep  them  at  a  distance  from  the 
practices  of  that  idolatrous  people. 

••  From  Egypt  idolatry  passed  into  Phenicia,  (if 

idoSr7    prop?-    indeed  it  did  not  begin  there  at  the  same  time), 
gates  itself  thro'    prom  Phenicia  it  was  propagated  to  the  East, 
Phenicia  to  other 
countries.  to  the  places  inhabited  by  the  posterity  of  SHEM, 

=====  into  Chaldea,  Mesopotamia,  and  the  places  ad- 
jacent; and  to  the  West,  where  the  posterity  of  JAPHET  fixed 
their  residence;  that  is  to  say,  in  Asia  minor,  in  Greece,  and  in  the 
Isles.  This  is  the  course  it  is  made  to  take  by  EUSEBIUS  and  other 
ancient  fathers:  so  we  are  not  to  hearken  to  the  Greeks,  when 
they  tell  us  that  idolatry  took  its  rise,  either  in  the  island  of 
Crete  under  the  reign  of  MELISSUS,  or  at  Athens  under  CECROPS, 
or  in  Phrygia,  since  they  were  not  acquainted  with  the  true  an- 
tiquity; for  we  are  sure  they  had  their  religion  and  ceremonies 
fi'om  Egypt  and  Phenicia,  with  the  colonies  that  came  to  them 
from  these  ancient  kingdoms,  as  all  the  learned  are  agreed,  and 
as  HERODOTUS  expressly  declares. 


SECTION    SECOND. 

ITS  FIRST  OBJECTS. 

=======         AFTER   having  settled  the  most  probable 

The  opinion  of  r  .  ,   ,  ,   ,. 

Vossius  viz  «raol  idolatry,  and  ciscovered  the  places  where 

it  began;  we  shall  now  endeavour  to  ascertain 


HISTORY  Ol'  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I 

ITS   FIRST  OBJECTS.  SECT.  II. 

its  FIRST  OBJECTS  — If  we  believe  the  famous  Vossius,  the  most 
ancient  objects  of  idolatry  were,  first,  the  two  principles,  Good 
and  E-vil;  second,  Spirits  or  Genii;  third  the  Souls  departed.   We 
shall  give  the  substance  of  what  he  says  of  each,  in  succession. 
•  1st,  Men  seeing  the  world  full  of  good  and 

PRINCIPLES'^  evil,  and  not  being  able  to  conceive,  that  a  being 
Good  and  Evil.-  of  essential  goodness  could  be  the  author  of  evil, 
invented  two  corresponding  divinities,  equal,  and 
eternal.  They  believed  all  good  came  from  the  GOOD  PRINCIPLE, 
and  that  the  BAD  PRINCIPLE  did  all  the  evil  he  possibly  could;  that 
the  latter  seeing  the  former  designed  to  create  a  world,  had  thwart- 
ed his  purpose  as  far  as  he  was  able;  that  upon  this  ensued  a  sharp 
war  between  thesfc  two  beings,  which  was  the  thing  that  retarded 
this  creation,  until  the  moment  that  the  GOOD  PRINCIPLE  got  the 
better;  that  the  other  in  revenge,  hud  scattered  up  and  down  in 
it  all  sorts  of  evils  and  miseries. — This  learned  author  adds, 
"  there  is  no  possibility  of  determining  the  precise  date  of  this 
error,  or  who  was  its  original  author,"  but  he  looks  upon  it,  with 
reason,  to  be  very  ancient.  He  seems  of  opinion  elsewhere,  how- 
ever, that  this  error  had  its  rise  among  the  Chaldeans;  though 
the  strongest  probability  is  in  favour  of  an  Egyptian  original. 
-"  •  Vossius  maintains,  that  the  idolatry  of  the  TWO 

loped  in^thTfa-    PRINCIPLES  spread  itself  in  a  little  time  over 

ble  of  Osiris  and    au  Egypt,  except  Thebais,  where  the  worship 

Typhon  of  Egypt; 

__ •_ ,    of  the  true  God  was  preserved;  and  he'alleges, 

that  all  that  the  Egyptians  fabled  about  Osiris  and  Ty/ilion^  and 
the  persecutions  of  the  latter  against  his  brother,  ought  to  be 
understood  of  these  TWO  PRINCIPLES,  and  their  eternal  war. 
This,  without  doubt,  is  what  that  ancient  people,  whose  whole 
theology  was  full  of  symbols,  intended  to  teach  us  by  the  mys- 
terious fable  which  intimated  that  Osiris  had  shut  up  in  an  egg 
twelve  white  pyramidical  figures,  to  denote  the  infinite  blessings 
he  had  designed  to  multiply  upon  mankind;  but  that  his  brother 
Tyfihon  having  found  a  way  to  open  this  egg,  had  secretly  con- 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY. 

SECT.  II.  ITS  FIRST  OBJECTS. 

veyed  thither  twelve  other  pyramids  that  were  black  >  by  which 

means  evil  came  to  be  always  blended  with  good, 

.    .  ,  We  may  add,  that  whatever  the  philosophers 

in  t^e^ablesT'of    nave  sa^c'  concerning  the  GOOD  and  BAD  PHINCI- 

the     Phenicians,    PLE;  whatever  the  Persians  have  given  out,  of 

and  Greeks: 

;======^===    their  two  divinities  Oromasdes  and  Arimanius; 

the  Chaldeans,  of  their  benign  or  noxious  planets;  the  Greeks,  of 
their  salutary  or  pernicious  Genii;  all  these,  I  say,  derive  their 
origin  from  lhat  ancient  Egyptian  theology,  veiled  under  the  fa- 
ble of  Osiris  and  Tyjihon.  This  opinion,  if  we  would  trace  it 
back  to  its  true  source,  was  owing  to  men  having  been  always 
puzzled  how  to  account  for  the  introduction  of  evil  into  a  world, 
which  was  the  work  of  a  God  infinitely  good  and  beneficent.  As 
for  the  other  fables  that  were  there  intermixed,  they  took  their 
origin,  no  doubt,  from  the  tradition  of  the  combat  between  the 
good  and  bad  angels. 

•  ' '  ~  '  Be  that  as  it  will,  this  opinion  made  vast  pro- 
how  treated  by  _  t  u  •  r  -n 
ancient  and  mod-  Sress<  PYTHAGORAS  brought  it  from  Egypt, 
ern  philosophers.  an(j  tnen  propagated  it  through  all  Italy.  The 
famous  MANES,  not  to  mention  what  other  pro- 
gress this  error  made,  spread  it  through  the  Christian  world  in 
the  fourteenth  century,  where  he  had  several  disciples.  S.  AU- 
GUSTINE himself  went  into  it  for  sometime,  but  having  discover- 
ed its  absurdity,  he  afterwards  combated  it  with  so  much  success, 
that  it  was  from  that  time  looked  upon  as  a  cause  quite  indespc- 
rate;  till  M.  BAYLE  resolved  .to  revive  it,  and  to  set  up  for  the 
advocate  of  the  Manicheans,  whether,  as  is  highly  probable,  to  cut 
out  work  for  the  divines  of  all  parties,  or  to  show  that  the  most 
desperate  cause,  by  falling  into  able  hands,  may  be  so  managed 
as  to  puzzle  the  greatest  wits,  or  for  some  other  reason  which 
we  shall  not  dive  into;  and  seeing  himself  attacked  on  all  hands 
by  illustrious  adversaries,  he  has  employed  all  the  artifice  of  a 
curious,  refined  sophist,  to  give  some  credit  to  so  bad  a  cause. 


76  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  ClIAP.  1. 


ITS  FIRST  OBJECTS. 


•         From  the  idolatry  of  £wo  principles,  Vossius 
2d,SpiR ITS  or 
QENII their         proceeds  to  that  01  SPIRITS  or  GENII;  and  he  ex- 

worshlp. amines  the  causes  that  influenced  men  to  -wor- 
ship them,  of  which  he  finds  TWO;  1st,  the 
knowledge  they  had  of  the  excellency  of  their  nature,  2cl,  the 
surprising  effects  believed  to  be  produced  by  them. — Doubtless 
oracles,  apparitions,  and  magical  operations,  contributed  not  a 
little  to  make  their  power  and  sovereignty  be  acknowledged. 
Their  worship  was  almost  every  where  established,  especially 
towards  the  bad  angels;  and  this  to  be  sure  is  the  sense  of  the 
scripture  language,  which  calls  all  the  Gods  of  the  Gentiles  de- 
mons. This  sort  of  idolatry  is  still  to  be  found  in  all  the  countries 
where  the  gospel  has  not  been  embraced,  as  the  relations  of  all 
our  missionaries  attest. — But  here  we  must  apply  the  judicious 
remark  of  M.  LE  CLERC,  "that  it  is  a  mistake  to  believe,  that 
those  idolaters  who  worship  two  beings,  the  one  benejicent  and 
the  other  malicious,  understand  thereby  the  good  and  bad  angels? 
as  if  they  knew  the  system  of  the  full  of  the  one,  and  of  the  fidel- 
ity of  the  others;  whereas  by  GENII  they  mean  certain  powers  dis- 
persed through  the  world,  \\ho  produce  in  it  good  and  e-vil" — 
which,  though  similar,  is  not  of  the  identity  of  the  worship  of 
the  tivo  principles. 

'  To  the  worship  of  Genii,  Vossius  joins  that 

3d.  SOULS  DE-       r  ...  i  i-  i      i  • 

PARTED- their          SOULS  DEPARTED,  winch  was  established  in  se- 

worship,  veral  countries,  if  we  credit  MELA,  HERODOTUS, 

and  TERTULLIAN,  especially  in  Africa,  where 
those  of  great  men  were  held  in  high  veneration:  but  as  this  is 
the  species  .of  idolatry  that  has  made  great  progress  in  the  world, 
since,  as  we  shall  shew,  most  of  the  Pagan  Gods  were  none  other 
than  the  great  men  who  distinguished  themselves  among  them, 
let  us  enlarge  upon  this  point,  and  propose-  the  conjectures  of  a 
person  of  great  ability,  about  the  origin  of  this  species  of  it. 


H1STOKY  OF   IDOLATRY.  77 


ITS  FIRST   OBJECTS. 


======         Two   causes,  he  reckons,  introduced  it  into 

the  effect  of  two 

causes.— first,          tne  worM — l  st>  gratitude,  or  the  veneration  they 

Gratitude.  bore  to  the  inustrious  dead:   2d,/for,  or  appre- 

hension of  the  evils  to  which  we  are  obnoxious. 
1st,  Gratitude — The  regard  they  had  for  their  ancestors,  brought 
in  the  custom  of  funeral  solemnities;  their  ambition  to  please 
the  living,  made  them  run  out  extravagantly  in  praising  the  ac- 
tions of  the  dead;  panegyrics  \\ere  sung  at  their  funerals,  their 
names  cried  up  to  the  skies;  and,  as,  before  the  introduction  of  the 
poetical  hell  and  elysian  jields,  it  was  the  opinion,  that  the  souls 
wandered  in  the  houses  and  places  which  they  had  frequented 
during  their  union  with  the  body,  they  erected  in  the  most  vene- 
rable part  of  the  house  a  sort  of  altar,  where  their  portraits  were 
preserved  with  respect,  and  there  they  burned  incense  and  sweet 
odours.  They  had  Priests  constituted  to  have  the  oversight  of  the 
worship  they  paid  them;  and  hither  they  repaired  upon  pressing 
exigencies,  to  implore  their  assistance.  A  desire  of  continuing  a 
lucrative  service,  made  those  Priests  invent  stories,  where  they 
intermixed  miracles  and  many  things  supernatural,  sometimes  to 
alarm  the  incredulous,  sometimes  to  animate  the  devout.  These 
ministers  framed  romances  too,  upon  the  lives  of  those  great  men, 
which  they  concealed  for  a  long  time,  and  passed  them  upon  the 
world  afterwards  for  true  histories:  and  however  their  contempo- 
raries might  be  proof  against  the  cheat,  those  who  came  a  long 
time  after,  had  no  opportunity  of  learning  the  history  of  those 
great  men  but  from  the  mouths  of  their  Priests.  Every  thing 
they  saw,  carrying  an  air  of  divinity,  and  public  temples  having 
come  in  the  room  of  private  chapels,  it  became  the  fashion  in 
good  earnest  to  honour  those  first  men  as  gods.  It  was  even  dan- 
gerous to  be  prying  into  the  original  of  established^  worship:  it 
was  like  to  have  cost  JE.SCHYLUS  his  life,  that  in  one  of  his  plays 
he  was  thought  to  have  revealed  somewhat  of  the  mysteries  of 
Ceres.  Accordingly,  in  the  temples,  in  those  especially  of  Osiris, 


78  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS    FIRST    OBJECTS.  SECT.  II. 

was  to  be  seen  a  statue  of  Harpocrates  holding  a  finger  on  his 
mouth,  to  denote,  as  VAKKO  has  it,  that  the  mystery  of  his  life 
and  death  was  prohibited  to  be  revealed;  and  this  was  likewise 
the  signification  of  the  Sphinxes  in  the  same  country,  placed  at 
the  entrance  of  the  temples,  as  the  emblem  of  silence. 
'••  The  second  cause  of  this  species  of  idolatry) 

^     econt  ,  ^    according  to  the  same  author,  is,  the  fear  of  evils 

to  which  tve  are  liable:  they  had  a  notion,  for  example,  that  many 
evils  were  occasioned  by  the  influence  of  the  Stars;  these  were 
thought  to  be  animated  with  SOULS  DEPARTED  and  immortal,  be- 
cause they  saw  them  without  alteration.  Thus,  the  most  effectual 
way,  they  thought,  to  obtain  their  favour,  was  to  appease  them 
whenever  they  believed  them  incensed;  and  from  that  time  they 
began  to  prostrate  themselves  before  the  Sun  and  the  Moon,  and 
all  the  host  of  heaven,  as  the  prophets  so  often  upbraided  the  na- 
tions. —  Thus  in  short,  religious  worship  was  regulated  according 
to  human  exigences  the  exigences  of  society  introduced  the  wor- 
ship of  illustrious  men,  those  of  nature  that  of  things  inanimate. 
M.  LE  CLERC  alleges  the  most  ancient  spe- 


.R  .         ~  .  .   .  ,          -     .   .  ... 

opinion  differs  in    cies  of  idolatry  to  be  that  of  giving  a  religious 

favor  of  ANGELS,  worship  to  ANGELS.  The  opinion  that  prevailed 
about  their  mediation  between  God  and  man, 
procured  them  certain  regard  out  of  gratitude  and  fear,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  blessings  that  were  thought  to  be  derived  from 
them:  then  they  came  to  pay  them  a  worship  subordinate  to  that 
of  the  first  being;  and  at  last  they  gave  them  full  adoration,  and 
they  spared  not  incense  nor  sacrifices  in  order  to  appease  them 
•when  they  were  thought  to  be  out  of  humour.  From  the  worship 
of  ANGELS,  according  to  this  author,  they  proceeded  to  that  of  the 
souls  of  illustrious  men:  then,  taking  into  their  heads  that  those 
souls,  when  departed  from  bodies,  were  united  to  certain  stars, 
which  they  animated,  they  came  at  last  to  worship  those  stars 
themselves. 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  79 


ITS    FIRST    OBJECTS. 


•         Without  entering  into  a  critical  examination 
MOON  in" reality  °^  tnese  different  opinions,  which  want  not  pro- 
were  the  first  ob-  bability,  I  am  persuaded  that  idolatry  beeran  by 
jects  of  idolatry- 
.  the  worship  of  heavenly  bodies,  and  especially  of 

the  SUN.  As  men  could  have  no  other  reason  for  abandoning  the 
true  GOD,  but  that  the  idea  of  a  being  purely  spiritual  was  defaced 
from  their  carnal  minds,  it  is  not  probable  they  would  choose  men 
like  themselves  to  be  the  first  objects  of  their  adoration;  it  is 
more  likely  they  would  cast  about  for  such  sensible  objects  as 
bore  the  character  of  the  Divinity,  whose  idea  they  had  not  en- 
tirely lost,  and  which  might  be  a  more  significant  symbol  of  HIM. 
Now  nothing  was  more  capable  of  seducing  them  than  the  hea- 
venly bodies,  and  the  SUN  especially:  his  beauty,  the  bright  splen- 
dour of  his  beams,  the  rapidity  of  his  course,  exulta-vit  ut  gigas 
ad  currendam  -viam;  his  regularity  in  enlightening  the  whole  earth 
by  turns,  and  in  diffusing  light  and  fertility  all  around,  essential 
characters  of  the  Divinity,  who  is  HIMSELF  the  light  and  source 
of  every  thing  that  exists;  all  these  were  but  too  capable  of  im- 
pressing the  gross  minds  with  a  belief,  that  there  was  no  other 
God  but  the  SUN,  and  that  this  splendid  luminary  was  the  throne 
of  the  Divinity.  Indeed  they  saw  nothing  that  bore  more  marks 
of  Divinity  than  the  SUN — We  cannot  therefore  question  the  an- 
tiquity of  the  worship  of  the  SUN  and  other  luminaries  :  and  if 
there  was  occasion  for  adding  authority  to  such  natural  arguments, 
I  should  have  upon  my  side  not  only  several  great  men  who  have 
been  of  the  same  mind,  but  also  almost  all  the  Rabbins,  and  espe- 
cially the  learned  MAIMONIDES,  who,  in  his  treatise  upon  the  ori- 
gin of  idolatry,  thinks  it  began  in  this  manner,  and  that  before 
the  deluge. 

"•'  Considering  what  ignorance  men  -were  in  as 

according  to  the  _    ,  _, 

opinion  of  MAI-    to  tne  nature  of  the  true  GOD,  says  that  learned 

Rabbi,  nothing  must  needs  have  struck  them 
more  than  the  sight  of  the  SUN  and  MOON.  Men 


80  HISTORY  OP  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS    FIRST    OBJECTS.  SECT.  II. 

never  lost  sight  ot  this  principle,  that  the  Divinity  essentially  com- 
prehends sufircme  beauty;  and  not  having  sufficient  lights  to  rise 
to  the  idea  of  an  immaterial  and  invisible  PRINCIPLE,  they  found 
nothing  more  amiable  in  nature  than  these  luminaries.  Gratitude, 
natural  enough  to  men  when  they  receive  a  benefit,  fortified  them 
still  more  in  the  same  persuasion:  they  could  not  doubt  that  the 
SUN  was  the  source  of  fertility,  that  it  was  to  his  heat  they  ought 
to  ascribe  the  fruitfulness  of  the  earth,  which  without  the  warm- 
ing influences  of  his  beams,  would  be  but  a  barren  mass,  without 
trees  and  without  fruits.  The  regular  motions  and  revolutions  of 
the  celestial  spheres,  soon  persuaded  them  that  the  STARS  were 
animated:  and  this  error  has  found  but  two  many  partisans.  Even 
learned  men  and  philosophers  came  to  espouse  this  opinion,  es- 
pecially the  Platonics,  and  PLATO,  their  master.  It  was  from  that 
philosophy,  PHILO  the  Jew  derived  his  doctrine,  that  the  STARS 
are  so  many  souls  incorruptible  and  immortal.  It  was  upon  the 
principles  of  this  same  doctrine,  that  ORIGEN  laboured  to  estab- 
lish the  same  opinion.  S.  AUGUSTINE  seems  to  waver  in  his  senti- 
ments about  this  matter;  but  he  afterwards  retracts.  There  is  a 
good  deal  of  probability  that  it  was  likewise  ARISTOTLE'S  senti- 
ment; for  however  some  of  his  commentators  say,  he  only  gives 
the  STARS  intelligences,  to  direct  them,  yet  there  are  others  of 
them  who  hold,  that  he  looked  upon  these  intelligences  as  the 
internal  and  essential  forms  of  the  STARS. 

'•  EUSEBIUS  delivers  his  thoughts  more  clearly 

and  according1  to 

the    opinion     of    upon  this  article:  "  That  man,  says  he,  in  the 

_  first  and  earliest  times,  never  dreamed  either  of 
erecting  temples,  or  idols,  having  neither  painting  at  that  time, 
nor  the  potter's  art,  nor  sculpture,  nor  masonry,  nor  architecture, 
is,  I  suppose,  what  every  thinking  man  evidently  sees:  but  over 
and  above  all  these,  they  had  not  so  much  as  heard  of  those  gods 
and  heroes  so  renowned  since;  and  that  they  had  then  neither  Ju- 
piter, Saturn,  Neptune,  Juno,  Minerva,  Bacchus,  nor  any  other 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  81 

SECT.  II.  ITS    FIRST    OBJECTS. 

God,  male  or  female,  such  as  have  been  found  in  latter  times  by 
thousands  both  among  Greeks  and  barbarians;  finally,  that  there 
was  no  Demon,  whether  good  or  bad,  whom  men  revered;  but 
that  they  adored  the  STARS  only,  we  are  told  by  the  Greeks  them- 
selves. Moreover  that  the  STARS  themselves  were  not  honoured 
as  they  ai-e  now  by  animal  sacrifices,  nor  by  rites  of  worship 
since  invented,  is  a  fact  that  depends  not  upon  our  single  testimo- 
ny, but  is  attested  by  the  Pagans  themselves." 

•     .  ,  .  '  I  might  subjoin  the  authority  of  profane  au- 

which  is  confirm- 
ed by  profane  au-    thors,  who  have  been  of  the  same  opinion;  but 

'  I  content  myself  with  two  testimonies;  one  from 

DIODORUS  SICULUS,  who  says,  "  men  in  earlier  times,  struck 
with  the  beauty  of  the  universe,  with  the  splendor  and  regularity 
which  every  where  shines  forth,  made  no  doubt  but  there  was 
some  divinity  who  therein  presided,  and  they  adored  the  SUN  and 
MOON  under  the  names  of  Osiris  and  Isis."  Hereby  this  learned 
author  gives  us  to  understand,  that  the  worship  of  the  STARS  was 
the  commencement  of  idolatry,  and  that  Egypt  was  the  place 
where  it  began. — The  other  is  that  of  PLATO,  if  indeed  he  be 
the  author  of  the  dialogues,  intitled  Efiinomis,  where  we  have 
these  words:  "  the  first  inhabitants  of  Greece,  as  I  conjecture,  ac- 
knowledged no  other  gods  but  those  which  are  at  this  very  day 
the  gods  of  the  barbarians,  namely,  the  SUN,  the  MOON,  the  earth 
the  stars,  and  the  heavens." 

But  nothing  proves  so  much  the  antiquity  of 
also,        inferable 

from  its  prohibi-  this  kind  of  idolatry,  as  the  care  MOSES  took  to 
tion  by  MOSES;  prohibh  h.  u  take  heed>  says  he  to  the  lsraelites, 

lest,  when  you  lift  up  your  eyes  to  heaven,  and  see  the  SUN,  the 
MOON,  and  all  the  STARS,  you  be  seduced  and  drawn  away  to  pay 
•worship  and  adoration  to  the  creatures,  which  the  Lord  your  GOD 
has  made  for  the  service  of  all  the  nations  under  heaven."  On 
which  R.  LEVI  BEN  GERSON  remarks,  that  Moses  mentions  the 
SUN*  before  the  other  STARS,  because  his  beauty  and  usefulness  are 


82  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS    FIRST    OBJECTS.  SECT.    II. 

more  apt  to  seduce,  than  they. — As  it  was  after  their  depar- 
ture out  of  Egypt,  and  when  the  Jews  were  yet  in  the  desert, 
GOD  indited  to  them  this  precept  of  the  law,  there  is  the  highest 
ground  to  believe,  that  it  was  to  make  them  forget  the  Egyptian 
superstitions  of  this  nature,  and  to  guard  them  against  being 
drawn  into  those  of  the  other  nations,  whom  they  were  very  soon 
to  be  among;  for  this  worship  was  at  that  time  spread  over  all,  the 
East,  as  we  shall  shew  presently,  and  this  is  the  reason  why  JOB, 
to  testify  his  innocence,  says:  « if  I  beheld  the  SUN  when  he 
shined,  or  the  MOON  walking  in  her  brightness;  if  my  heart  has 
been  tickled  with  a  secret  joy,  and  I  have  put  my  hand  to  my 
mouth  to  kiss  it;  this  also  is  the  height  of  iniquity,  even  a  renunci- 
ation of  the  most  high  God." 

-  In  the  last  place  we  observe,  it  is  with  a  view 

and  from  the  po- 
sition of  the  Pa-    to  acknowledge  the  divinity  of  the  SUN,  that  the 
San  temples.  Pagans  in  prayer  turned  to  the  East,  and  had  all 

their  temples  directed  to  that  quarter;  whereas  the  Jews,  that 
they  might  not  imitate  them,  were  always  in  the  habit  of  turning 
their  sanctuary  towards  the  West.  The  primitive  Christians 
likewise  used  to  turn  their  churches  towards  the  rising  SUN,  not 
to  adore  that  luminary,  but  to  pay  their  devotion  to  "  the  Son  of 
righteousness,  who  diffuses  light  over  the  mind,  and  warms  the 
hearts  of  those  who  worship  him,  by  the  influences  of  his  grace." 

'•  '  Authors  are  not  agreed  as  to-  the  place  where 

Their  worship 
commenced      in    the  worship  of  the   SUN  was  introduced;  some 

1  hold  it  was  in  Chaklea,  because  that  ancient  peo- 

ple were  always  addicted  to  astronomy,  and  were  the  first  who 
observed  the  motion  of  the  Stars;  as  if  it  required  astronomical 
observations  to  be  capable  of  admiring  the  SUN,  and  knowing  its 
influences,  when  indeed  we  need  but  open  our  eyes,  to  be  struck 
with  his  glory  and  his  beauty.  It  is  much  more  probable,  that 
Egypt,  which  I  but  just  now  proved  to  have  been  the  nursery  of 
idolatry,  was  the  place  where  the  SUN  began  to  be  worshipped  tin- 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  83 

SECT.    II.  ITS    FIRST    OBJECTS. 

der  the  name  of  Osiris.  From  Egypt,  this  idolatry  was  spread 
through  the  neighbouring  countries,  or  rather  through  the  world, 
since  this  luminary  has  been  the  divinity  of  every  nation,  even 
those  that  are  most  barbarous,  under  different  names  as  we  shall 
see  in  the  sequel. 

•  '"        Every  body  knows  that  MACROBIUS   under- 
and  to  them  MAC-        ,  ,          ,,     ,       /-,     ,        r  n 

ROBIUS   reduces    takes  to  prove,  that  an  the  (jrods  or  Paganism 

all  the  Pagan  de-    roay  be  reduced  to  the  SUN.   This  author  allows 
ities. 

•  the  poets  the  honour  of  having  followed  the  sen- 

timents of  the  philosophers,  especially  in  reuniting  all  the  divi- 
nities in  the  SUN,  who,  being  the  ruler  of  the  other  orbs,  whose 
influences  act  upon  this  lower  world,  must  of  consequence  be  the 
author  of  the  universe.  This  same  author,  and  after  him  Vossius, 
reduced  almost  all  the  divinities  of  the  feminine  sex  to  the  MOON; 
who  were  only  formed  from  the   Egyptian  goddess  Isia,  whose 
name  imports  ancient,  and  who  was  among  that  people,  the  sym- 
bol of  the  MOON;  and  here,  without  doubt,  we  have  the  FIRST 
OBJECTS  of  idolatry,  and  the  foundation  of  the  whole  pagan  the- 
ology.— From  the  adoration  of  the  SUN  and  MOON,  they  went  to 
that  of  the  other  stars,  especially  of  the  planets,  whose  influences 
•were  more  sensible;  in  a  word,  they  worshipped  the  whole  host 
of  heaven.  And  this  sort  of  idolatry  which  has  the  stars  and  filan- 
ets  for  the  objects  of  its  worship,  goes  under  the  name  of  Sabism. 
As  to  what  may  have  given  rise  to  this  denomination,  the  learned 
are  not  agreed  among  themselves;  the  thing  at  bottom  is  of  no 
great  consequence:  but  what  is  more  essential  to  be  known,  is, 
that  this  sect  is  the  most  ancient  of  all,  as  cannot  be  doubted. 
======        There  are  learned  men  of  opinion,  that  the 

calletlSaWsm.the    ancJent  philosophers,  those  especially  of  Chal- 

most  universal,  &    dea   had  given  the  handle  for  Sabitm.  It  is  true, 
of  the  longest  du- 
ration, indeed,  that  they  reason  a  great  deal  about  the 

"^=^========     Stars;  about  their  influences,  and  their  beauty: 

perhaps  too  they  believed  them  to  be  eternal  beings,  and  conse- 


84  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  J. 

ITS    PROGRESS  TO  SYSTEM.  SECT.    III. 

quently  so  many  divinities,  or  at  least  that  there  were  gods  who 
resided  in  them,  and  regulated  their  courses  and  influences.  They 
even  gave  out,  and  it  is  a  very  ancient  opinion,  that  the  body  of 
the  star  was  no  more  than  the  vehicle,  or  a  sort  of  machine,  that 
served  to  carry  the  gods  who  conducted  it: — but  what  occasion 
•was  there  for  such  refined  reasoning,  to  influence  gross  and  car- 
nal men  to  address  their  first  prayers  to  those  luminous  and  re- 
splendent bodies?  Was  it  not  enough  for  them  to  turn  their  eyes 
towards  the  SUN,  to  behold  how  he  both  enlightens  the  world,  and 
communicates  to  it  heat  and  fertility,  in  order  to  judge  that  he 
was  the  parent  of  nature,  that  by  him  it  was  vivified,  and  without 
him  would  be  nothing  but  a  lifeless  expanse,  without  light,  and 
•without  any  production,  as  we  noted  before?  All  the  savage  na- 
tions, who  worshipped  the  SUN,  even  the  Mexicans,  the  Peruvi- 
ans, and  other  savages  of  America,  did  they  wait  for  the  decision 
of  philosophers  to  teach  them  to  prefer  their  vows  and  prayers  to 
this  luminary? — But  be'that  as  it  will,  Sabism  is  to  be  looked  upon 
as  the  most  ancient  sect  in  the  pagan  world.  It  arose  not  long 
after  the  deluge,  since  it  was  known  to  ABRAHAM'S  ancestors,  to 
TERAH  and  SERUG,  and  perhaps  before  them  too.  This  is  the 
sect  which  has  made  the  greatest  progress;  I  have  mentioned  the 
different  nations  that  adopted  it;  and  if  we  believe  the  most  learn- 
ed Rabbins^  and  the  eastern  authors,  almost  the  whole  world  has 
been  infected  by  it.  In  fine,  of  all  the  sects,  this  has  been  of  the 
longest  duration,  since  there  are  numbers  of  idolaters  who  still 
adhere  to  it. 


SECTION  THIRD. 
ITS  PS  O  Git  ESS  TO  SYSTEM. 

THE  first  race  of  men,  some  time  after  their 

General        re-      ,. 
marks.  dispersion,    were    extremely    rude;   even    the 

Greeks,  who  became  afterwards  so  polite,  were 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OP  IDOLATRY.  85 

SEC.  III.  ITS   PROGRESS   TO    SYSTliM. 

they  were  wont  to  call  barbarians.    We  are  not  therefore  to  ima- 
no  better  at  first,  if  we  credit  DIODORUS  SICULUS,  than  those  whom 
gine  that  idolatry,  in  its  first  setting  out,  was  a  studied  system; 
that  theology  was  then  encumbered  with  that  apparatus  of  cere- 
monies they  added  to  it  in  aftertimes.  Nothing  could  be  more  sim- 
ple, nor  at  the  same  time  more  gross,  than  the  religion  of  the 
primitive   Idolaters.     They  were  at  little  or  no  charge  either  to 
represent  their  Gods,  or  pay  them  a  religious  worship.  But  Idola- 
try did  not  long  remain  in  this  simple  state.     Various  causes,  as 
time  progressed,  perhaps  totally  independent  of  sincere  devotion, 
gradually  enlisted  along  with  the  Sun,  the  Moon,  and  the  Stars, 
nearly  all  the  objects    of  the    physical  and  animal  world — the 
Elements,  the  Rivers ,  the  Mountains,  on  the  one  hand;  with  va- 
rious living  animals  down  to  the  meanest  insect,  and  the  souls  of 
the  departed,  on  the  other.    And  thus  far,  their  ideal  Divinities 
were  founded  upon  objects  that  had  a  real  existence.  But,  a  fruit- 
ful imagination  actuated  by  a  rage  for  the  mult-plication  of  the 
objects  of  a  depraved  worship,  did  not  permit  them  to  stop  here. 
They  not  only  deified  the  noble  virtues,  but  every  intermediate 
measure  of  moral  quality  down  to  the  basest-vice:    They  not  only 
bestowed  divine  honours  upon  the  most  dignified  of  humanfunc- 
tions,  but  extended  those  honours  to  the  most  degrading  offices 
that  human  oppression  or  corruption  can  devise — till  at  last  it  as- 
sumed the  form  of  an  universal  system,  whose  parts,  though  at 
first  physically  founded  and  simple,  were  now  perhaps  ninety-nine 
in  the  hundred  Poetical  distortions  and  exaggerations  of  true 
history,  or  purely  fabulous,  and  proportionally  complicated,  not 
to  say  occasionally  impenetrably  mysterious. —  We  will  proceed 
in  this  SECTION,./?;^,  to  examine  into  the  principal  Causes  of  this 
fabulous  extension  of  the  Pagan  worship;  and  then,  secondly,  to 
enumerate  the  Deities  of  that  worship  in  its  full  latitude,  whether 
their  prototype  or  original  be  physical,  animal,  or  souls  departeds 
'whether  they  be  virtues  or  vices;  or  whether  they  be  dignified 
L 


86  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHA*.  I. 

ITS    PROGRESS   TO    SYSTEM.  SEC.  III. 

functions,  or  degrading  offices.  But  I  will  be  in  no  danger  of  being 
understood  to  insinuate  that  these  objects  of  Idolatry  were  insti- 
tuted in  succession,  in  classes,  as  I  shall  enumerate  them;  for  it 
is  equally  doubtless  that  each  class  \vas  yet  increasing  while  ano- 
ther was  not  perfected,  as  it  is  evident  that  physical  objects  were 
the  first,  and  abstract  qualities  the  last  that  received  Divine  ho- 
nours. Nor  will  we  be  understood  to  attribute  all  the  causes  of 
Fable  to  the  poets,  who  truly,  as  the  earliest  among  the  profane 
historians,  contributed  a  very  abundant  share  together  with  the 
painters  and  sculptors;  for  there  were  many  other  fruitful  causes 
with  which  these  artists  co-operated  only  as  instruments.  We 
shall,  forthwith,  see  more  particularly  how  the  case  is!  for  we  shall 
treat  the  subject  somewhat  at  length,  as  the  perspicuity  of  all 
Mythology  materially  rests  thereon. 

•--  Ignorance  in  philosophy,  and  especially  in  fihy- 

T  *  8    sicS)  'ias  S^ven  "se  to  many  fables.  That  curiosi- 


M 

GICAL   FABLES,  ty,  which  is  so  natural  to  men,  has  always  deter- 

First,    Ignorance  . 

in  Physics.  mined  them  to  seek  alter  the  causes  ot  astomsh- 

1  ing  events;  and  in  the  barbarous  ages,  when  so 
little  advancement  had  been  made  in  the  knowledge  of  nature, 
Ihey  had  recourse  to  gross  and  sensible  representations:  they  gave 
life  to  every  physical  thing:  here  was  an  admirable  expedient  for 
shortening  their  enquiries;  as  nothing  is  more  easy  than  to  refer 
effects,  whose  principles  are  unknown,  to  some  visible  r««se.— 
They  proceeded,  through  length  of  time,  to  deify  these  objects; 
which  they  represented  in  human  form:  the  Sun  was  worshipped 
under  the  name  of  djiollo,  and  the  Moon  under  that  of  Diana.  A 
dread  of  their  influences,  which  are  thought  to  extend  to  all 
things  here  below,  was  certainly  the  cause  of  their  deification, 
and  of  that  worship  which  was  introduced  in  order  to  appease 
their  imaginary  resentment.  The  priests,  for  that  purpose,  in- 
vented stories,  and  published  apparitions  of  their  pretended  Dei- 
ties, and  thereby  kept  up  a  gainful  worship.  They  made  people 
believe;,  for  example,  that  Diana,  had  fallen  in  love  with  Endy- 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  87 

SEC.  III.  ITS   PROGRESS   TO    SYSTEM. 

mion,  and  that  the  cause  of  her  eclipses,  was  owing  to  the  inter- 
views she  had  with  her  gallant  on  the  mountains  of  Caria;  but  as 
ill  luck  would  have  it,  these  amours  could  not  last  forever,  and 
this  put  them  upon  the  hard  shift  of  accounting  for  her  eclipses 
another  way.  They  gave  out  that  sorceresses^  especially  those  of 
Thessaly,  where  poisonous  plants  were  common*,  had  power  by 
their  enchantments  to  draw  down  the  Moon  to  the  Earth.  In 
like  manner,  as  they  were  unacquainted  with  the  causes  of  the 
winds,  they  believed,  that  boisterous  Deities  raised  such  commo- 
tions in  the  Earth  and  Sea;  and  to  check  their  daring  insults,  they 
set  over  them  a  superior  Deity.  Thus  jEolus,  for  reasons  to  be 
given  in  his  history,  was  appointed  their  king.  Every  river  and 
fountain  had  also  a  tutelar  Deity;  and  whether  it  was  the  rivers 
got  the  names  of  theirs;"  kings  who  inhabited  the  country  through 
which  they  ran,  or  whether  it  was  the  kings  were  named  from  the 
rivers,  in  a  course  of  years  they  came  to  be  confounded  together, 
and  they  made  a  Divinity  of  the  prince,  for  the  sake  of  the  river. 
Had  they  occasion  to  talk  about  the  Rainbow,  whose  nature  they 
knew  nothing  of,  they  forged  a  Divinity  of  it;  its  beauty  made  it 
pass  for  the  daughter  of  Thaumas,  a  poetical  personage,  whose 
name  signifies  marvellous;  and  because,  in  all  appearance,  they 
had  learned  from  the  traditional  accounts  of  the  Deluge,  that 
God  had  set  forth  the  rainbow  as  a  token  of  reconciliation,  hence 
they  looked  upon  their  Iris  as  the  messenger  of  the  Gods,  and  of 
Juno  especially,  because  the  rainbow  declares  the  disposition  of 
the  air,  which  that  Goddess  represents.  The  very  name  of  Iris 
was  given  her,  if  we  will  take  PLATO'S  word  for  it,  to  point  out 
her  employment. — In  this  manner  were  formed  several  physical 
Divinities,  and  so  many  astronomical  fables.  What  wretched  phi- 
losophy this  was!  But  it  was  the  best  they  had;  and  when  it  came 
of  course  to  the  Poets'  turn  to  embellish  those  gross  ideas,  with 

*  By  reason  of  the  foam  Cerberus   had   dropt   there,   when   he  was 
brought  from  Hell  by  Hercules,  according  to  another  fable. 


88  HISTORY  OP  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS    PROGRESS   TO    SYSTEM.  SEC.  III. 

all  the  ornaments  their  MUSE  so  fertile  in  invention  could  furnish 
them  with,  men  become  so  fond  of  considering  nature  only  under 
these  captivating  images,  that  it  was  a  considerable  time  before 
they  so  much  as  dreamed  of  carrying  their  discoveries  to  any 
greater  length.  What  is  worst  of  all,  religion  was  concerned  in 
this  system;  every  new  Divinity  brought  in  a  load  of  ceremonies; 
and  those  who  pretended  to  see  with  their  own  eyes,  were  looked 
upon  as  impious.  Thus  the  unfortunate  ANAXAGORAS  was  pu- 
nished with  death,  for  having  taught  that  the  Sun  was  not  anima- 
ted, and  that  it  was  nothing  but  a  mass  of  red  hot  iron,  about  the 
bigness  of  the  Peloponnesus.  From  the  whole,  we  may  conclude, 
that  they  are  in  the  right,  who  thought  a  part  of  the  ancient  phi- 
losophy was  couched  under  their  fables;  but  then  they  must  needs 
own  it  was  a  philosophy  of  a  gross  nature,  and  a  system  founded 
on  the  report  of  the  senses,  and  suc/i  as  might  have  entered  into 
the  imagination  of  a  clown. 

•  ••  .  Many  of  the  learned  in  the  last  age,  and  some 

Scripture/  &c^  *n  lne  present,  have  alleged,  that  most  of  the 
misunderstood.  fables  derived  their  origin  from  the  Sacred  Books 
not  well  understood;  and  that  the  traditions  of  the 
chosen  fieofile,  preserved  in  Phenicia,  Egypt,  and  the  other  adja- 
cent countries,  adulterated  in  process  of  time,  had  given  rise  to 
vast  many  fables.  They  add  farther,  that  colonies  having  come 
from  the  countries  bordering  upon  Palestine,  and  settled  in  the 
islands  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  in  Greece,  had  brought  thither 
these  traditions  thus  disfigured,  and  that  they  were  still  more  viti- 
ated afterwards  by  the  additional  fictions  of  the  poets;  in  fine,  that 
the  Patriarchs,  especially  those  who  lived  after  the  deluge,  Abra- 
ham, Jacob,  Esau,  Moses,  and  some  others,  were  the  first  Gods  of 
the  Pagan  world;  and  that  their  illustrious  achievements,  their  con- 
quests, and  laws,  had  influenced  the  people  to  deify  them.  Among 
these  learned  authors,  we  may  reckon  the  famous  BOCHAUT, 
GERAND  Vossius,  HUETIUS,  THOMASSIN,  &c. — It  is  agreed,  that 
Mwsand  Joshua  were  well  known,  not  only  in  Egypt  and  Pheni- 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY. 

SEC.  III.  ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM. 

cia,  but  likewise  in  several  other  countries;  that  the  last  especially 
having  carried  his  conquests  a  great  way  into  Palestine,  spread 
such  a  terror  over  the  coast  of  Syria,  that  several,  it  is  thought, 
shipped  themselves  off  with  their  goods  for  foreign  parts,  rather 
than  come  under  his  dominion;  that  some  of  them  came  as  far 
as  the  confines  of  the  ocean,  where,  asweure  assured,  they  set  up 
pillars  with  this  inscription,  we  are  the  persons  ivhojledfar  shelter 
from  that  robber  Joshua  the  son  of  A'un.  It  is  likewise  certain,  that 
Inachus,  Cecrofis,  Danaus,  Cadmus,  and  some  others,  came  out  of 
Egypt  and  Phenicia,  and  introduced  their  respective  colonies  into 
Greece,  and  the  neighbouring  isles;  and  probably,  having  their 
heads  full  of  the  exploits  of  those  great  men,  they  would  reUearse 
them  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  country;  and  the  Greeks,  fond  of  the 
pompous  and  supernatural,  would  be  sure  to  make  use  of  them 
for  the  embellishing  the  history  of  their  heroes  in  aftertimes.  As 
a  proof  of  it,  the  accounts  of  Hercules  especially  and  Bacchus,  are 
thought  to  agree  in  many  things  with  the  history  of  those  famous 
Israelites.  Accordingly,  very  curious  parallels  have  been  drawn: 
a  celebrated  prelate  has  even  gone  the  length  of  confounding  all 
the  heroes  in  fable  with  those  of  the  bible,  and  finds  in  Moses 
alone  the  origin  of  Afiolh,  Priapus,  Esculafiius,  Prometheus,  Tire- 
sias,  Tyfihon,  Perseus,  Orpheus,  Janus,  Adonis,  and  numbers  of 
others;  and  in  Zififiorah  the  wife  of  Moses,  or  in  Miriam  his  sis- 
ter, he  finds  almost  all  the  Goddesses,  as  Astarte,  Venus,  Cydele, 
Ceres,  Diana,  the  Muses,  the  Destinies,  8cc.  And  another  learned 
author  even  alleges  that  HOMER,  in  his  poems,  has  given  a  histo- 
ry of  the  scripture  heroes  under  borrowed  names.  In  fine,  some 
years  ago  this  very  ancient  opinion  has  been  revived  by  two  au- 
thors, who  have  carried  it  yet  farther  than  any  I  have  named.  The 
first  is  M.  DE  LAVAUX,  in  a  piece  enti.led,  comparison  of  fable 
inith  sacred  history;  who,  to  give  greater  weight  to  his  opinion, 
quotes  two  of  the  fathers,  and  some  ecclesiastical  writers,  by 
•whom  it  was  maintained  before  him;  these  are,  Justin,  Grigen, 
Tertullian,  Minutius  Felix^  Cyril,  drnobius,  Lactantius,  St.Augus- 


90  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  i. 

ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM.  SEC.  III. 

tine,  Thcodoret,  St.  ~4ttwnanius,  Philo,  Josephua,  and  others.  The 
second  is  M.  FOURMONT,  of  the  Academy  of  Belles  Lettres,  in  his 
critical  reflections  upon  the  history  of  ancient  nations.  As  this 
learned  Academic  understands  ancient  languages  to  the  bottom, 
he  is  the  man  who  has  enlarged  most  upon  this  subject;  and  he 
has  applied,  with  much  exactness,  to  the  Patriarchs,  the  characters 
of  the  first  men  drawn  by  SANCHONIATHON:  he  finds  so  great 
affinity  between  their  names,  and  those  given  them  in  Scripture, 
and  the  characters  and  actions  so  nearly  resembling  what  is 
there  said  of  them,  that  it  is  often  pretty  difficult  to  hold 
out  against  his  argument.  Farther,  says  he  in  his  preface, 
can  one  be  blamed  for  following  a  multitude  of  authors,  all  of 
them  eminent  either  for  knowledge  or  piety,  and  for  endea- 
vouring to  find  in  the  patriarchs  the  Gods  whom  the  Pagan 
world  revered — Saturn  in  Noah,  Pluto  in  Shem,Jufiiter  Hammon 
in  Cham,  Nefitune  in  Japhet,  as  BOCHAHT  has  made  out;  Belua 
and  Jupiter  in  Nimrod,  as  others  have  maintained;  Minerva  in  the 
idea  we  have  of  the  Trinity,  which  is  the  opinion  of  father  TOUR- 
NEMINE  the  Jesuit;  Apollo  in  Jubal,  with  father  THOMASSIN;  and 
so  of  the  rest?  Besides,  continues  he,  nothing  is  more  advantage- 
ous to  religion  than  this  opinion;  and  in  the  same  way  HUETIUS 
delivers  himself  upon  the  subject. — However  great  an  esteem  I 
have  for  these  great  men,  I  can  never  be  induced  to  think  that 
any  wrong  use  the  poets  could  make  of  the  Old  Testament,  was 
capable  of  producing  such  a  heap  of  fables,  as  is  alleged:  for,  in 
the  first  place,  the  Jews  were  a  people  greatly  contemned  by  their 
neighbours,  little  known  to  distant  nations,  and  extremely  jealous 
of  their  Law  and  their  Ceremonies,  which  they  concealed  from 
strangers,  as  being  profane  in  their  eyes,  even  at  a  time  when  they 
were  obliged  to  live  among  them.  In  like  manner,  granting  the 
miracles  wrought  by  God  in  Egypt  in  the  time  of  MOSES  to  have 
been  published,  yet  it  is  very  unlikely  that  they  who  reported  them 
to  the  Greeks,  would  have  any  great  value  for  a  man  who  must 
have  been  so  odious  to  them:  I  make  no  doubt  but  they  gave  the 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  91 

SEC.  III.  ITS    PROGRESS   TO    SYSTEM. 

preference  even  to  their  own  Magicians;  or  rather,  would  they  not 
do  all  that  in  them  lay,  to  cut  off  the  very  memory  of  a  man  who 
had  plagued  them  so  much?  Farther,  shall  we  contradict  all  anci- 
ent history,  and  the  most  authentic  monuments  which  mention 
the  heroes  of  Greece,  their  names,  their  parentage,  and  the  place 
of  their  nativity,  to  believe  upon  the  authority  of  a  few  trifling  ety- 
mologists, or  some  slight  traces  of  resemblance,  that  they  were 
only  copied  from  MOSES?  Might  not  several  similar  events  have 
happened  in  different  places?  Might  not  Agamemnon  have  thought 
of  sacrificing  his  daughter  Ifihigeflia,  under  the  apprehension  of 
losing  the  command  of  a  fine  army,  without  any  necessity  of  con- 
founding this  event  with  Jefithu's  sacrifice,  whatever  resemblance 
we  may  find  between  the  two  princesses  in  their  name  and  the 
time  when  they  lived?  The  same  may  be  said  of  Deucalion's  de- 
luge;  of  Minerva  sprung  from  Jufiiter's  drain;  and  some  other  fa- 
bles, that  seem  to  have  an  affinity  with  scripture  truths.  Is  it 
impossible  to  see  the  same  events  return  upon  the  theatre  of  the 
•world?  Will  there  not  always  be  sacrifices  made  to  ambition?  Will 
not  murders,  parricides,  &c.  be  seen  every  day?  So  true  it  is,  that 
one  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  history  of  past  ages,  would  see 
a  variety  of  things  as  recurring  only,  which  have  already  come 
about  more  than  once.  After  all,  if  there  be  an  affinity  between 
fables  and  the  history  of  MOSES  or  of  SAMPSON,  it  is  only  to  be  con- 
sidered as  a  remnant  of  tradition,  which  nothing  has  been  able  to 
deface.  There  is  no  denying,  for  instance,  that  the  resemblance  of 
the  universal  deluge,  preserved  among  all  nations,  has  contributed 
to  the  embellishing  of  Deucalion's;  that  some  circumstances  have 
been  borrowed  from  JVoah's  history,  to  that  of  Saturn  and  his  chil- 
dren, who  lived  shortly  after;  especially  with  respect  to  the  divi- 
sion of  the  world,  as  also  in  some  other  things:  but  to  think  almost 
all  the  fables  may  be  accounted  for  by  that  pretended  abuse  of 
MOSES'S  books,  is  to  grope  in  the  dark — Are  men  really  in  earnest 
when  they  tell  us,  the  transformation*  of  Proteus — were  invented 
merely  for  what  the  scripture  says  of  Moses's  rod ?  That  Mercury 


92  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM.  SEC.  III. 

was  taken  for  the  messenger  of  the  Gods,  and  the  confidant  in  their 
amours — from  nothing  else  but  the  story  of  Canaan's  curiosity^ 
which  drew  down  NOAH'S  curse  upon  him?  That  the  history  of 
the  Muses  has  no  other  foundation — but  the  corruption  of  Moses's 
name?  and  that  they  ascribed  to  them  the  invention  of  dancing 
and  music — only  because  Miriam,  whom  the  Greeks  might  pos- 
sibly call  Musa,  sung  a  song  to  a  dance?  That  the  fable  which 
speaks  of  Mercury's  conducting  the  souls  into  Hell — is  founded 
upon  Moses's  causing  the  earth  to  swallow  up  Dathan  and  Abiram? 
That  Euristheus  prosecuting  Hercules—is  Moses  giving  Joshua 
the  management?  That  Vulcan  falling  from  Heaven — is  Moses 
coming  down  from  the  mount?  That  Hercules'  combat  with  Ache- 
lous — is  the  passing  over  the  Jordan?  That  Prometheus  loosed 
from  mount  Caucasus  by  Hercules — is  Moses's  praying  upon  the 
mount  while  Joshua  is  defeating  the  Arnalekites? — If  one  was  to 
refine  upon  every  minute  resemblance,  I  too  might  say,  that  the 
clog  which  knew  Ulysses  upon  his  return  to  Ithaca — is  the  same 
with  the  dog  of  Tobit,  which  caressed  his  young  master  upon  his 
return  to  Raguel:  that  Achilles's  discourse  to  his  horse— is  in  imi- 
tation of  Balaam's  conversation  with  his  Ass:  that  the  expedition 
of  the  Argonauts — is  but  a  diversified  relation  of  Abraham's  jour- 
neyings,  and  those  of  the  Israelites  in  the  desart:  that  the  story  of 
Philemon  and  Baucis — is  that  of  Abraham  and  Sarah,  or  of  Lot  and 
his  wife:  that  the  fable  of  Niobe  and  her  children—is  a  copy  of 
Job's  afflictions;  as  that  of  Lasmedon,  and  of  the  Gods  who  built 
Troy— is  the  history  of  Laban  and  Jacob:  that  the  story  of  Orion- 
is  drawn  from  that  of  Jacob  and  Surah;  and  so  of  a  world  of  others 
1  could  name,  which  however,  is  not  such  easy  matter  to  firove. 
Farther,  if  there  be  such  a  perfect  conformity  between  the  heroes 
of  the  bible — and  the  heroes  iu  fable,  why  do  our  most  celebrated 
authors  differ  among  themselves?  Why  is  Mercury,  according  to 
BOCHART  the  same  with  Canaan,  and  in  HUETIUS  the  same  with 
Moses?  How  comes  the  one  to  tell  us  Hercules  is  Sampson,  and 
the  other  that  he  is  Joshua?  The  one  that  Noah  is  Saturn,  and  the 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  93 

SEC.  III.  ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM. 

other  that  he  is  Abraham?  This  variety  of  opinions  is  a  strong  pre- 
sumption against  the  hypothesis  of  the  learne'd  moderns:  it  must 
also  be  owned  that  however  studied  these  comparisons  be,  of  which  ^ 
their  books  are  full,  there  are  still  some  things  there  which  are  but 
mere  suppositions,  to  say  no  worse.  Should  the  learned  author, 
•who,  in  examining  the  annals  of  China,  found  a  considerable  re- 
semblance between  one  of  their  emperors  and  one  of  the  kings  of 
France  in  name,  disposition,  and  manners,  take  it  into  his  head, 
that  either  the  king  of  France  must  have  been  the  emperor  of 
China,  or  the  Chinese  monarch  king  of  France,  1  would  fain  know 
what  reception  he  would  expect  from  the  world? — There  is  no- 
thing so  arbitrary  as  the  etymologies  ofnumes  we  may  often  .read 
of,  and  the  interpretation  of  them  is  wholly  in  the  power  of  fancy. 
I  am  of  opinion,  that  ORPHEUS  and  others  travelled  into  Egypt,  in 
that  very  period  when  the  Israelites  dwelt  there;  but  at  the  same 
time,  I  believe  they  got  more  information  from  thence  in  the  per- 
nicious science  of  magic,  or  at  least  in  the  vain  superstitions  of 
that  idolatrous  people,  than  in  (he  knowledge  of  the  true  GOD, 
whatever  several  of  the  learned,  after  S.  JUSTIN,  have  thought  on 
that  head;  and  besides,  we  have  nothing  remaining  of  this  OR- 
PHEUS. In  what,  I  pray  you,  do  those  who  travel  into  foreign 
countries  take  care  to  be  informed,  if  it  is  not  in  their  religion, 
laws,  and  customs?  Do  they  not  consult  the  Priests  and  Doctors 
of  the  country,  rather  than  those  of  a  people  under  captivity,  hated 
persecuted,  and  withal  not  very  forward  to  reveal  their  mysteries 
to  strangers?  I  dont  indeed  deny,  that  those  ancient  poets  were 
acquainted  with  several  TRUTHS,  as  the  unity  of  the  Godhead,  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  the  punishments  of  Hell,  the  rewards  of  Pa- 
radise;  TRUTHS  which  notwithstanding  that  afifiaratus  of  fictions, 
with  which  they  are  dressed  up,  are  conspicuous  in  severul  places 
of  their  works:  but  are  we  therefore  to  believe  they  borrowed  them 
from  our  INSPIRED  WRITINGS?  Are  they  not  rather  the  precious 
M 


94  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM.  SEC.  III. 

remains  of  tradition,  which  nothing  can  deface;  sparks  of  reason 
and  nature's  light,  which  are,  to  use  TERTULHAN'S  words, 'the 
testimony  of  a  soul  naturally  Christian?'  In  a  word,  they  are  the 
seeds  of  eternal  truth,  that  remained  rooted  in  the  mind  of  man) 
in  his  primitive  state  of  innocence,  and  had  the  GOD  OF  NATURE 
for  their  author  as  well  as  the  Sacred  Books, — We  may  add,  that 
fables  having  taken  their  rise  but  a  few  ages  after  the  deluge,  when 
there  was  still  a  recent  enough  tradition  of  what  had  happened, 
even  before  NOAH,  it  is  pretty  probable  that  they  who  followed 
them,  would  be  sure  to  adopt  some  strokes  of  those  ancient  truths. 
Thus  the  Chaos,  the  golden  age,  and  many  other  fables — are  copied 
from  the  account  MOSES  gives  of  the  Creator,  the  state  of  innocence 
and  the  ha/ifiy  society  primitive  mortals  lived  in.  But  as  to  those 
numberless  circumstances,  wherein  THOMASSIN  and  after  him  the 
author  of  Homer  Hebraizing,  find  MOSES  and  that  ancient  poet 
agreeing  together;  I  am  of  opinion,  they  would  not  have  seen 
quite  so  many,  unless  they  had  been  favourably  disposed  to  Jind 
them.  Let  us  then  leave  Greece  in  the  possession  of  her  heroes  and 
heroism,  and  content  ourselves  with  saying,  that  however  there 
are  some  fables  whose  original  is  owing  to  that  Pagan  practice  of 
perverting  scripture  and  tradition;  yet  the  number  of  such  is- not 
so  great,  as  is  commonly  believed. 

•  "•  '"         A  more  plentiful  source  of  fables,   and  more 
Third,     l^no--     ,.  ...... 

ranee  of  Chrono-     favourable  to  their  introduction,  is  the  ignorance 

logy  and  ancient  of  chronology  and  ancient  history.  As  it  was  very 
History. 

'  late  before  they  came  to  have  the  use  of  letters, 

especially  .in  Greece,  several  ages  passed,  during  which  they  had 
no  other  way  of  preserving  the  memory  of  remarkable  events  but 
by  tradition,  or  at  best  by  some  monuments,  which  in  time  be- 
came very  ambiguous.  Even,  when  they  began  to  use  writing, 
their  first  compositions  were  not  connected  histories,  but  enco- 
miums, songs,  and  genealogies,  stuffed  with  fables,  which  the 
priests  took  pains  to  dress  up  in  the  manner  already  hinted;  in- 


CHAP   J  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  95 

SEC.  III.  ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM. 

somuch,  that  nothing  was  to  be  found  but  confusion  over  all;  and 
even  such  as  were  inclined  to  see  farther  into  the  history  of  anti- 
quity, after  tracing  back  about  three  or  four  generations,  found 
themselves  in  the  labyrinth  of  the  history  of  the1  Godsj  where 
they  were  every  moment  stumbling  upon  Jupiter,  Saturn,  Ccelus, 
and  Tellus.  The  Greeks  especially  had  no  farther  account  to  give 
of  their  original;  this  was  the  limiting  point  of  their  whole  tradi- 
tion, even  among  persons  of  better  understanding.  As  for  others, 
they  innocently  gave  out,  that  their  ancestors  had  sprung  from 
the  earth  like  mushrooms,  or  pismires  in  the  forest  of  Egina,  or 
from  Cadmus's  dragon's  teeth.  However,  as  they  were  fond  of 
being  thought  ancient,  like  most  other  nations,  they  forged  a  fabu- 
lous history  of  imaginary  kings,  Gods,  and  heroes,  that  never  had 
a  being:  and  when  they  wanted  to  speak  of  the  early  times,  about 
which  they  had  got  a  few  hints  fiom  the  colonies  that  had  settled 
among  them,  they  only  substituted  fable  in  the  room  of  true  his-  • 
tory.  If  the  creation  of  the  world  was  the  point  in  question — cut 
came  the  fable  of  a  C/iaos:  if  it  was  about  the  first  inventors  of  arts, 
instead  of  Adam  and  Cain,  who  were  the  first  that  cultivated  the 
ground — they  ascribed  the  whole  honour  of  the  invention  to  Ceres 
and  Triptolemus;  Pan,  according  to  them,  instead  of  Abel,  was 
the  first  that  led  a  pastoral  life;  to  Apollo  was  given  the  invention 
of  music — whereas  it  is  Jubal'a  invention\>y  right:  Vulcan  with  his 
Cyclops,  passed  for  him  who  had  taught  to  forge  iron  and  other 
metals,  in  place  of  Tubal-Cain:  Bacchus,  with  them,  was  the  God 
of  the  vine,  which  Noah  dressed;  substituting  at  every  moment 
their  modern  divinities,  in  room  of  the  ancient  patriarchs,  whom 
we  learn  from  Scripture  to  have  been  the  first  and  true  inventors 
of  arts.  They  were  mere  children,  as  ARISTOTLE  taxes  them, 
whenever  they  had  occasion  to  speak  of  remote  times.  They  were 
even  so  weak  as  to  believe,  that  it  was  their  colonies  who  had 
peopled  all  the  other  countries,  and  derived  the  names  of  such  of 
them  as  they  knew,  from  .the  names  of  their  heroes.  Thus  Eu« 


96  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM.  SEC.  III. 

rope  was  derived  from  Euro/ia  the  sister  of  Cadmus;  Asia  from 
the  mother  of  Prometheus;  Africa  from  the  daughter  of  Efiajihc; 
Armenia  from  drmenus;  Media  from  Medus;  the  Persians  from 
Perseus;  and  So  of  others:  not  knowing  that  such  names  were 
given  to  places  at  their  being  first  inhabited,  as  denoted  the  quali- 
ties of  the  country  or  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  people  who 
came  to  it,  as  the  learned  BOCHART  proves.  Thus  Europe  got 
the  name  from  the  whiteness  of  its  inhabitants,  8cc. — Indeed  the 
smallest  ambiguities  gave  rise  to  a  fable.  PLUTARCH,  in  the  life 
of  LYCURGUS,  tells  us,  upon  the  authority  of  an  ancient,  that 
dpollo  having  given  some  Cretans  a  Dolphin  for  their  guide,  they 
came  to  Phocis,  where  they  built  the  town  Cyrra:  we  plainly  see 
they  had  been  conveyed  thither  in  a  shift  named  the  Dolphin. 
Whenever  they  had  occasion  to  find  out  the  origin  of  towns  and 
the  founders  of  them,  it  was  always  some  hero,  a  son  of  some  of 
their  Gods.  The  city  of  Cyparisso  in  Phocis,  was  environed  with 
cypress  trees,  whence  it  had  the  name;  and  that  of  Daulis  in  the 
same  country,  was  also  encompassed  with  trees,  whence  its  name 
was  borrowed:  these  originals  were  too  simple,  they  chose  ra- 
ther to  have  recourse  to  one  Cyparisaus^  and  to  the  pretended 
Duulis  a  tyrant,  who  gave  their  names  to  these  two  cities.  Lijco- 
reus  had  built  that  of  Lycoreus  upon  the  Parnassus,  which  had 
got  its  name  from  the  many  wolves  that  were  there.  We  might 
add  here  an  infinite  number  of  examples,  but  these  may  suffice 
for  what  I  have  just  now  advanced.  So  that  it  is  not  among  the 
Greek  writers  we  are  to  seek  for  the  origin  of  ancient  nations^ 
nor  other  monuments  of  antiquity;  they  did  nothing  but  copy  from 
the  Egyptians  and  other  Eastern  people,  who  had  themselves 
filled  their  ancient  history  vt\\\\  fables.  It  is  therefore  in  the  Sacred 
Scripture  that  the  truth  of  antiquity  must  be  sought  after:  the 
profane  historians  commence  only  at  the  time  of  EZRA,  that  is, 
the  last  of  the  sacred  historians,  unless  you  take  in  the  author  of 
the  Maccabees.  HOMER  himself,  and  HESIOD,  their  most  ancient 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  97 

SEC.  III.  ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM. 

poets,  and  their  greatest  divines  too,  lived  not  till  a  long  time  af- 
ter the  war  of  Troy.  As  for  DARES  the  Phrygian,  DICTYS  of  Crete, 
and  some  others,  granting  they  were  not  fictitious  authors,  as 
they  really  were,  they  must  have  lived  but  about  the  time  of  the 
Trojan  war,  a  period  corresponding  to  the  time  of  the  Judges; 
and  would  still  have  been  much  later  than  the  events  recorded  by 
MOSES.  So  that  the  Greeks  were  far  from  being  instructed  in  the 
history  of  the  times  a  little  farther  back,  and  their  history  never 
had  any  shew  of  probability,  till  the  time  of  the  Olym/riads,  before 
which  VARRO  owns,  there  is  nothing  to  be  seen  in  it  but  confusion 
and  c/iimteras.— But  to  clear  up  this  whole  matter,  and  to  ascer- 
tain the  time  when  fables  arose,  we  must  distinguish  three  sorts 
of  time;  the  times  unknown,  the  fabulous,  and  the  historical.  The 
Jirst,  the  times  unknown,  which  are  as  it  were  the  infancy  and 
nonage  of  the  world,  comprehended  what  had  passed  from  the 
Chaos,  or  rather  from  the  creation,  to  the  deluge  of  Ogyges,  which 
fell  out  towards  the  1600th  year  before  Christ.  The  second,  the 
fabulous  times,  take  in  a  series  of  events  from  this  deluge  until 
the  first  Olympiad,  where  the  third  division  called  historical 
time,  begins.  It  is  proper  to  remark,  that  this  famous  division 
made  by  VARRO,  has  a  regard  only  to  the  Greek  history;  for  not 
only  the  Israelites,  but  even  the  Egyptians  and  Phenicians,  had 
some  knowledge  of  the  earliest  times,  by  mfans  of  tradition  and 
annals,  though  often  dashed  with  fables:  butjjjiere  we  have*o  do 
only  with  the  Greeks,  who  had  but  a  very  confused  knowledge  of 
the  first  ages  of  the  world;  and  it  is  within  the  compass  of  the  se- 
cond period  that  we  are  to  place  the  origin  of  that  prodigious 
number  of  fables  we  find  dispersed  through  their  poets.  It  must 
however  be  acknowledged,  that  all  the  ages  of  the  fabulous  pe- 
riod, were  not  equally  fruitful  in  fables  and  heroism:  without 
doubt,  the  one  that  has  furnished  us  with  the  greatest  stock  of 
them,  was  that  of  the  siege  of  Troy.  That  famous  city  was  twice 
taken;  the  first  time  by  Hercules;  and  30  or  35  years  after,  that  is 


*b  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  L 

ITS    PROGRESS    TO   SYSTEM.  SEC.  III. 

to  say,  the  year  before  Christ  1282,  by  the  Grecian  army,  under 
the  conduct  of  dgumemnon.  At  the  time  of  its  being  first  taken, 
we  see  upon  the  stage,  Telamon,  Hercules,  Theseus,  Jason,  Or- 
pheus, Castor  and  Pollux,  and  all  those  other  heroes  of  the  golden 
jftecce.  At  the  second  siege  appear  the  sons  or  grandsons  of  the 
former,  Agamemnon,  Menelaus,  Achilles,  Diomede,  Ajax,  Hector^ 
Paris,  JEneas,  8cc.;  and  in  the  time  which  intervened  between 
these  two  epochs,  happened  the  two  wars  of  Thebes,  where  ap- 
peared Adrastus,  QLdi/ius,  Etheocles,  Polynices,  Cafifianeus,  and 
numbers  of  others,  the  eternal  subjects  of  poetical  fables:  Happy 
age  for  poems  and  tragedies!  Accordingly  the  theatres  of  Greece 
have  a  thousand  times  resounded  with  these  illustrious  names. 
To  which  we  may  add,  that  those  of  the  present  time  ring  with 
them  every  day;  insomuch  that  the  heroes  of  our  own  age,  who 
often  deserve  the  name  better  than  those  of  antiquity,  dare  not 
appear  there  but  under  borrowed  names.  Nor  is  this  the  thing 
that  surprises  most;  no,  it  is  to  see  the  Divinities  of  Pagan  fashion 
introduced  every  day  upon  our  stages:  despicable  Divinities!  ex" 
.  hibiting  in  Christian  cities  the  hideous  representation  of  their  de- 
baucheries; insomuch  that  one  is  doubly  shocked,  to  see  ancient 
idolatry  revived  there  with  all  the  pomp  and  pageantry  it  former- 
ly wore  at  Athens  or  Rome,  and  to  think  on  the  dangerous  lessons 
our  youth  imbibe  from  a  system  of  mere  Pagan  morality. 

Ignorance  of  languages,  the  Phenician  espe- 
rance'  of'langua-    cially,  has  also  been  a  source  of  an  infinite  deal 

£es- of  fables.    It  is  certain  that  several  countries  in 

Greece  were  peopled  by  colonies  from  Pheni- 
cia;  whose  language,  without  doubt,  would  mix  itself  with  that  of 
the  countries  they  came  into;  and  as  the  Phenician  language  has 
many  equivocal  words,  the  Greeks,  who  in  aftertimes  read  their 
ancient  history,  which  abounded  with  Phenician  idioms,  finding 
therein  these  equivocal -words,  were  sure  to  explain  them  in  a  sense 
that  was  most  to  their  taste.  There  is  even  little  room  to  doubt, 


CHAP.  1.  HISTORY  OP  IDOLATRY. 

SEC.    III.  ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM. 

but  that  the  Phenicians,  knowing  what  stroi  g  propensity  they  had 
towards  fictions,  would  impose  upon  their  credulity  as  often  as 
they  were  consulted.  This  was  the  origin  of  numberless  fables; 
of  which  the  following  are  examples,  most  of  them  taken  from 
Hoc  HART.  The  word  Alfiha,  or  Ilfiha,  in  the  Phenician  lan- 
guage, signifying  either  a  bull  or  a  shift;  the  Greeks  instead  of 
saying  Murofia  had  been  conveyed  in  a  ship  into  Crete,  gave  out 
that  Jufiiter,  transformed  into. a  bull,  had  carried  her  off.  In  the 
same  language,  the  Phenicians  call  themselves  Heveens,  or  Achi- 
•viens;  and  as  the  word  Chi-va  signifies  a  serfient,  the  Greeks 
lighting  upon  it  in  the  annals  of  Cadmus,  feigned  the  story  of  that 
prince's  being  changed  into  a  serpent.  And  from  the  word  Sir, 
which  imports  a  song,  they  have  made  up  the  fable  of  Sirens. 
Molus  had  never  passed  among  them  for  the  god  of  the  winds  and 
tempests,  but  for  the  word  Mol,  or  Choi,  which  signifies  a  tem- 
pest. That  fable,  which  says  the  shiji  of  the  Argonauts  sfwke, 
and  that  Minerva  had  set  at  the  helm  one  of  the  oaks  of  the  forest 
of  Dodona,  that  gave  oracular  responses,  owes  its  origin  likewise 
to  a  double  entendre  in  the  Phenician  tongue,  where  the  same 
word  signifies,  to  sfieafc,  and  to  govern  a  shift.  From  the  word 
Moun,  or  Man,  which  imports  vice,  they  have  made  thfe  God 
Momus,  the  censor  of  the  faults  of  men.  The  fable  of  the  famous 
fountain  of  Castalia,  in  Bceotia,  takes  its  rise  in  like  manner  from 
an  equivocal  sourtd;  for,  as  it  runs  with  a  murmuring  noise  that 
appeared  to  have  something  singular,  and  the  effect  of  its  water 
being  to  disorder  the  imagination  of  those  who  drank  it,  they  fan- 
cied at  first  it  communicated  the  gift  of  firofihecy;  and  when  the 
question  was,  how  it  came  by  this  virtue,  they  invented  this  fable: 
A  nymfih,  say  they,  was  beloved  by  Afiollo;  while  the  god  was  one 
day  in  pursuit  of  her,  she  threw  herself  into  this  fountain;  Afiollo, 
as  a  consolation  for  his  mistress,  imparted  to  the  water  the  gift  of 
firofihecy.  Had  the  Greeks  understood  the  Hebrew  language, 
they  might  easily  have  seen  that  the  word  Casfalia,  comes  from 


100  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS    PROGKESS   TO   SYSTEM.  SEC.    III. 

Castala,  which  signifies  noi-e;  nor  would  they  have  run  into  such 
ridiculous  fables,  the  ordinary  resort  of  their  ignorance.  We 
have  much  the  same  account  to  give  of  the  origin  of  the  fountain 
Hippocrene,  which,  they  say,  sprung  forth  upon  Pegasus's  striking 
his  foot  against  mount  Helicon,  because  the  word  Pigran,  whence 
comes  Hififiigrana,  and  them  e  Hippocrene,  imports  to  spring  from 
the  earth.  The  fable  of  the  fountain  Arethusa  and  Alpheus  her 
lover,  so  well  described  by  OVID.,  has  its  foundation  in  nothing 
else  but  such  a  poor  quibble.  The  Phenicians,  upon  their  arri- 
val in  Sicily,  seeing  that  fountain  environed  with  willows,  named 
it  perhaps  Alphaga,  as  much  as  to  say,  the  fountain  of  ivillows* 
The  Greeks  who  landed  afterwards  in  the  same  place,  not  under- 
standing the  signification  of  the  word,  and  calling  to  mind  their 
river  Alpheus,  imagined,  that  since  \\\Q  fountain  and  the  river  had 
nearly  the  same  name,  they  must  have  had  the  same  original  too; 
and  upon  this,  some  sprightly  wit  made  up  the  romance  of  the 
amours  between  the  god  uf  the  river  and  the  n'ymjih  Arethusa. 
Almost  all  the  succeeding  historians  were  befooled  by  this  fable, 
and  gravely  told  that  Alpheus  sunk  under  ground,  crossed  the 
sea,  and  re-appeared  in  the  island  of  Sicily,  nigh  to  the  fountain 
of  Arethusa.  One  and  the  same  Phoenician  root  of  the  word 
Nahhasch  might  easily  stand  for  a  keeper,  or  a  dragon:  wluen  they 
read  any  history  where  this  word  occurred,  to  denote  the  keeper  of 
something  of  value,  they  were  sure  to  say  it  was  a  dragon.  Hence 
all  those  fables  of  the  famous  dragons,  whom  they  set  to  keep  the 
garden  of  the  Hesperides,  the  golden  fleece,  the  cave  at  Delphi,  and 
the  famous  fountain  of  Thebes.  In  the  room  of  men  they  have 
set  over  them  so  many  monsters;  and  what  has  authorised  the 
freedom  they  took,  in  applying  the  Phenician  word  to  that  sense, 
is,  that  to  be  the  guardian  of  a  thing  of  worth,  and  to  watch  for  its 
preservation,  one  must  be  vigilant  and  sharp-sighted.  This  is 
•what  has  often  deceived  PAL^EPHASTUS,  DIODOR.US,  and  some 
others,  who,  for  explaining  these  fables,  have  substituted  others 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  101 

SEC.  III.  ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTKM. 

in  their  room,  and  introduced  personages  to  whom  they  have 
given  the  name  of  Draco — Just  so  when  the  poets  tell  us,  that 
the  Gods  terrified  by  the  menaces  of  the  Giants,  disguised  them- 
selves in  Egypt  under  the  figures  of  several  animals;  which  is 
founded  upon  bare  allusions  to  the  Phenician  or  Hebrew  names, 
v.'hich  gave  occasion  to  these  fables.  And  to  condescend  upon 
examples,  it  is  unquestionably  certain,  that  their  reason  for  trans- 
forming the  God  Anubis  into  a  dog,  is,  that  Nobeah  signifies,  to 
bark:  Afiis  into  an  ox,  because  Abir  signifies  an  ox;  Juno  into  a 
heifer,  because  jistaroi,  which  was  Juno's  name,  signifies  Jlocks: 
and  Venus  into  zjish,  because  Dag,  which  was  that  of  Venus,  or 
Astarte,  imports  a  Jiah. — Here  a  world  of  examples  might  be 
produced;  for,  not  only  the  equivocal  words  in  the  eastern  lan- 
guages have  made  way  for  numberless  fables,  but  those  of  other 
languages  besides.  The  equivocal  words  in  Greek,  for  instance, 
have  produced  a  vast  number.  From  Crios,  which  was  the  name 
of  the  governor  to  Athamas's  children,  and  signified  a  ram;  they 
have  made  up  the  fable  of  the  ram  with  the  golden  Jleece,  as  \ve 
shall  show  at  more  length,  when  it  comes  to  be  explained.  In 
like  manner,  they  have  turned  Lycaon  into  a  wolf,  because  his 
name  and  the  name  of  that  animal  are  the  same.  They  have 
given  it  out  that  Cyrus  was  suckled  by  a  bitch,  because  his  nurse, 
the  wife  of  Astyages's  cow-herd,  was  called  in  Greek,  Cijno,  and 
in  the  language  of  the  Medes,  Sfiaco,  names  which  import  a 
bitch.  That  Venus  sprung  from  sea-foam,  because  dfihrodite, 
which  was  the  name  given  to  that  goddess,  signified  foam.  That 
the  temfile  of  Delphi  had  bfren  built  with  ivax  by  the  wings  of  the 
bees  which  Apollo  had  brought  from  the  Hijfierborean  regions, 
because  Peteras,  whose  name  imports  a  King,  had  been  the  archi- 
tect. The  same  thing  is  to  be  said  of  other  fabjes,  where  we 
meet  with  some  infants  that  have  been  nursed  by  she-goats,  as 
JEgisthes;  or  by  a  hind,  as  Telephus,  the  son  of  Hercules;  tr- 
eatise their  names  answer  to  the  names  of  these  animals. 
N 


102  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 


ITS    PROGKESS    TO    SYSTEM. 


•         As  it  frequently  happened  that  one  and  the 
Fifth,  The  Plu- 
rality   or    Unity     same  person  had  several  names,  a  case  very  com- 

of  Names.  mon  among  the  Eastern  nations;  in  process  of 

time,  they  who  came  to  read  their  undigested 
histories,  and  inconsistent  adventures,  mistook  them  for  different 
persons.     Hence  that  multiplicity  of  heroes;  the  actions  and  tra- 
vels of  one  were  distributed  among  several;  by  Mercury^  for  ex- 
ample, was  designed  Thaut  in  Egypt;   Teutat  among  our  ancient 
Gauls;  Hermes  among  the  Greeks:  Pluto  is  the  Dis  of  the  Celtae, 
iheddes  of  the  Greeks;  the  Summanus  of  the  Latins;  the  Soranus 
of  the  Sabines.     And  as  sometimes  the  hero  or  Gocl  was  not  known 
in  one  country,  but  under  a  single  name,  and  they  knew  little 
about  his  exploits  elsewhere;  when  they  came  to  read  of  other 
adventures,  other  names,  or  other  qualities  than  those  they  had 
heard  of,  they  never  questioned  but  they  related  to  different  per- 
sons; hence  that  prodigious  number  of  Jufiiters^   Mercurys^  Sec. 
Sometimes  again  we  have  this  practice  inverted;  and  when  the 
case  was,  that  several  persons  went  under  the  same  name,  they 
ascribed  to  one  what  belonged  to  many,  and  the  adventures  of  all 
were  crowded  into  the  history  of  him  who  was  best  known.  Such 
is  the  history  of  the  Hercules  of  Thebes,  where  they  have  foisted 
in  the  actions  and  travels  of  the  Phenician  Hercules^  and  several 
other  heroes  of  the  same  name.     Such  likewise  is  the  history  of 
Jupiter,  the  son  of  Saturn,  where  they  have  amassed  the  adven- 
tures of  several  kings  of  Crete,  who  bore  the  same  name,  which 
was  common   with  their  ancient  kings;  as  that  of  Pharaoh  or 
Ptolemy  was  in  Egypt,  or  that  of  Ctssar  among  the  Roman  em- 
perors. 
======         History  has  likewise  suffered  a  great  deal  from 

marvellous  relal    the  many  fabulous  relations,  that  have  been  in- 

tions    of    travel-     troduced  by  travellers*  and  merchants.     People 

•  in  that  way  of  life  are  often  ignorant  and  inclined 

to  falsehood;  thus  it  was  easy  for  such  to  deceive  others  who  had 


CHAP  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  103 

SEC.  III.  ITS    PROGRESS   TO    SYSTEM. 

but  little  means  of  detecting  them;  for  in  those  early  times  geo- 
graphy was  but  little  known,  and  navigation  was  brought  to  no 
great  perfection;  wherefore  the  circumstances  of  distant  regions 
were  enveloped  in  darkness,  and  were  made  to  assume  whatever 
character  such  travellers  chose  to  impose,  which  were  generally 
of  a  doleful  or  hideous  cast.  Accordingly  when  they  came  to 
relate  their  voyages,  they  mingled  with  them  a  deal  of  fable;  they 
never  spoke  of  the  Ocean  but  as  a  place  overspread  with  dark- 
ness, where  the  Sun  went  every  evening  to  bed  in  the  palace  of 
Tethys.  The  rocks  that  form  the  streights  of  Scylla  and  Charyb- 
dis,  passed  for  two  monsters  that  swallowed  up  their  ships.  The 
Symfilegad.es  or  the  Cyanex,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Euxine  sea,  were 
represented  as  though  they  run  together  to  devour  vessels  as  they 
were  sailing  between  them.  The  Cimmerians  were  represented 
as  a  people  buried  in  eternal  darkness;  the  Arimasfiians  and  Isse- 
donians,  as  men  that  had  but  one  eye;  the  Hyperboreans,  as  a  race 
that  lived  a  thousand  years  without  pain  or  sickness,  and  distressed 
with  none  of  the  injuries  of  life.  Here  was  a  people  covered  over 
with  feathers;  there  man-monsters  who  wanted  heads,  as  the  Aco- 
fihali;  or  having  dog's  heads,  as  the  Cynocefihali;  some  whose  ears 
reached  down  to  their  heels;  others,  in  fine,  who  had  but  one  foot; 
for  such  are  the  ridiculous  fictions  their  relations  of  the  Indies 
and  northern  regions  were  made  up  of:  every  where  they  were 
obliged  to  quell  tremendous  monsters.  If  any  one  visited  the  Per- 
sian gulph,  he  told  how  he  had  come  to  the  extremity  of  the  rising 
Sun,  and  to  that  region  where  Aurora  opens  the  barrier  of  the 
day.  Perseus,  for  having  stoutly  ventured  to  pass  the  streights 
of  Gibraltar,  in  his  way  to  the  Orkneys,  had  the  winged  Pegasus 
given  him,  with  the  equipage  of  Pluto  and  Mercury;  as  if  it  had 
been  impossible  to  accomplish  so  long  a  voyage  without  some 
supernatural  assistance.  What  ridiculous  fable.9,  what  childish 
fictions  do  we  meet  with  in  the  spurious  Orpheus,  in  APOLLO- 
NIUS  RHODIUS,  on  the  subject  of  the  return  of  the  Argonauts! 


104  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATHY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM.  SEC.  HI. 

how  many  unknown  countries  and  people  do  they  light  upon  in 
that  chimerical  voyage!  Who  is  there  can  tell  where  lay  the  Cim- 
merians of  HOMEK,  and  where  the  island  of  Calyfiso? 
—  It  was  a  custom  with  the  ancients  to  praise  their 

l^tience'of  '"eif  neroes  after  tne"'  death,  anci  upon  their  festival 
logizing-  Orators.  days,  in  studied  panegyrics,  where  the  young 
"  Orators,  whose  genius  they  wanted  to  prove  by 
these  first  essays,  gave  themselves  full  liberty  to  feign  and  invent, 
believing  this  would  gain  them  a  character  for  sprightliness.  Thus 
they  made  it  their  business  to  /epresent  their  heroes,  not  what 
they  had  been,  but  such  as  they  ought  to  be,  according  to  the  chi- 
merical notions  of  greatness  they  had  formed  to  themselves.  They 
especially  never  failed  to  exalt  them  to  Heaven,  and  confer  divin- 
ity upon  them  without  the  least  reserve;  this  was  the  title  to  nobi- 
lity most  sought  after  in  early  times.  These  Orators,  far  from  being 
blamed,  were  praised  for  their  fertile  inventions;  their  best  perfor- 
mances were  preserved;  they  frequently  learned  them  by  heart; 
and  if  they  were  verses  or  songs,  they  sung  them  in  public.  Out  of 
these  memorials  they  afterwards  composed  histories:  the  historian 
himself  was  not  sorry  to  be  the  publisher  of  extraordinary  things 
which  were  warranted  only  by  these  relations.  DIODORUS  tells 
something  like  this  of  the  Egyptians,  with  respect  to  their  deceas- 
ed kings:  he  says,  the  whole  kingdom  went  into  mourning,  and 
that  they  sung  the  praises  of  the  dead  in  verse:  these  funeral 
pieces,  no  doubt,  were  preserved  by  the  priests,  who  made  use  of 
them  in  writing  the  history  of  these  princes.  The  Greeks,  great 
imitators  of  the  Egyptians,  practised  this  method,  not  only  towards 
their  kings,  but  likewise  towards  those  who  had  planted  colonies, 
or  brought  any  art  to  perfection  among  them.  It  is  easy  to  con- 
ceive that  this  practice  must  have  introduced  numbers  of  fables 
into  history;  for  what  is  not  a  lively  wanton  imagination  capable  of, 
when  licensed  to  roam  unconfined  over  the  wide  field  of  flattering 
ideas! — If  one  was  to  attempt,  even  now-a-days,  to  compile  a  his- 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY. 

SEC.  III.  ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM. 

tory  of  our  own  heroes  from  most  of  their  panegyrics,  or  their 
funeral  sermons,  it  would  be  no  less  fabulous  than  those  of  anti- 
quity, except  in  point  of  deification.  I  am  not  at  all  surprised  that 
ancient  history  should  be  so  full  of  fables,  when  it  was  written 
upon  such  precarious  memorials;  but  I  am  astonished  to  see  the 
sottish  vanity  of  the  Roman  historians,  who  have  so  often  given 
into  the  fabulous,  cither  to  flatter  their  emperors,  or  that  they 
might  not  come  short  of  the  Greeks  in  the  marvellous,  or  to  shew 
the  visible  protection  of  the  Gods  over  their  great  men.  Hence 
those  frequent  apotheoses,  that  multitude  of  prodigies  they  relate 
so  gravely,  and  whatever  else  of  the  supernatural  kind  their  histo- 
ries are  full  of. 

=====  Poets  are  undoubtedly  the  persons  by  whom 
Fictions  'and  ex-  k'bles  have  been  mostly  produced  in  the  world, 
aggerations.  ^s  they  have  always  aimed  at  pleasing  more 

than  instructing,  they  preferred  an  ingenious 
falsehood  to  a  known  truth.  If  a  Poet  had  occasion  to  flatter,  or 
console  a  dejected  prince  upon  the  loss  of  a  son,  it  was  but  giving 
him  a  place  among  the  Stars  or  among  the  Gods,  as  LACTAN- 
TIUS  has  it.  Such  as  had  been  lovers  of  the  Belles- Lettres,  were 
considered  either  as  sons,  or  favorites  of  Apollo:  this  was  the  rea- 
son why  Hyacinth  passed  for  the  minion  of  that  God;  and  because 
he  was  killed  by  the  stroke  of  a  coit  which  unluckily  glanced  aside, 
they  feigned  that  Boreas  m  a  fit  of  jealousy  was  the  author  of  that 
accident.  Success  justified  the  happy  rashness  of  the  poets;  their 
works  were  read  with  pleasure,  and  nothing  in  them  pleased  so 
much  as  fiction:  they  laid  it  down  as  a  maxim  in  poetry,  never 
to  tell  a  thing  in  a  natural  way.  The  shepherdesses  were  nymphs 
or  naides;  ships  became  sometimes  ftying  horses,  as  in  the  story 
of  Bellerophon;  and  sometimes  dragons,  as  in  that  of  Medea:  the 
shepherds  were  all  satyrs  or  fauns;  and  men  on  horseback  were 
Centaurs:  every  lover  of  music  was  Apollo;  and  every  physician,  an 
Esculapius:  youryfne  singers  all,  so  many  Muses;  and  every  beauty 


106  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM.  SEC.  III. 

a  Venus:  lewd  women  were  Syrens  and  Harfiies;  and  every 
celebrated  huntress,  a  Diana:  oranges,  must  be  apfiles  of  gold; 
and  arrows  and  darts  were  lightning  and  thunder-bolts. — They 
even  went  farther:  for  finding  they  were  masters  of  painting  and 
caricaturing  persons  and  things  as  they  pleased,  to  shew  that 
their  art  lay  chiefly  in  fiction,  they  made  it  their  particular  study 
to  contradict  the  truth;  and  for  fear  of  agreeing  with  the  histo- 
rians, they  changed  the  characters  of  the  persons  they  spoke  of. 
HOMER,  of  a  faithless  prostitute,  has  made  his  prudent  chaste 
Penelofie;  and  VIRGIL,  of  a  traitor  to  his  country,  has  given  us 
the  pious  hero;  of  a  renegado  who  lost  a  battle  against  Mazentius, 
and  with  it  his  life,  he  has  made  a  conqueror  and  Demi-God.  The 
same  poet  has  made  no  scruple  to  dishonour  a  princess  of  strict 
virtue,  and  to  divest  her  of  the  reputation  she  had  for  chastity  and 
courage,  to  give  her  an  infamous  passion,  and  a  cowardice  capable 
of  despair.  All  of  them  have  conspired  to  make  Tantalus  pass  for 
a  miser,  and  have  set  him  as  such  in  the  centre  of  Hell,  where  he 
suffers  a  cruel  punishment,  in  proportion  to  his  avarice;  though 
as  PINDAR  relates  it,  he  was  a  most  religious  firince,  and  a  very 
generous  man. — But  it  was  not  merely  inclination  to  soothe  and 
flatter,  that  laid  the  poets  under  the  necessity  of  forgery  and  lies; 
they  were  often  obliged  to  it  by  the  meanness  of  their  subjects. 
What  they  had  to  say  would  frequently  have  been  low  and  vulgar, 
unless  they  had  artfully  brought  in  something  Jictitious  and  su- 
pernatural. If  one  were  to  make  an  analysis  of  their  poems,  they 
might  be  reduced  to  almost  nothing:  there  are  numbers  of  mer- 
chants and  soldiers,  who  have  gone  through  many  more  occa- 
sional dangers,  than  either  JEneas,  Ulysses,  or  Achilles.  What 
would  the  JEndd,  Iliad,  or  Odyssey  be,  was  it  not  for  the  eternal 
interposition  of  the  Gods,  and  perpetual  mixture  of  truths  of 
small  concern,  with  the  most  interesting  fictions?  A  man  saved 
from  his  country's  ruin,  in  company  with  other  exiles,  fits  out  a 
few  ships;  embarks,  and  arrives  in  Thrace,  in  Macedon,  and 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  10? 

SEC.  III.  ITS    PROGRESS   TO    SYSTEM. 

some  of  the  Archipelago  islands;  after  staying  some  time  in 
Crete,  he  goes  on  to  Sicily,  where  having  passed  the  streights  of 
Messana,  he  arrives  at  length  in  Italy  by  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber, 
where  he  first  killed  his  rival,  and  then  married.  Another  is  ab- 
sent from  his  native  home  for  many  years;  in  the  mean  time  his 
family  affairs  are  all  in  disorder,  his  estate  is  squandered  away, 
his  wife  and  son  are  harassed;  at  length,  after  having  undergone 
some  dangers,  he  finds  out  some  of  his  domestics,  who  had  per- 
severed in  their  duty,  and  with  their  assistance,  sets  all  again  to 
rights  by  destroying  his  enemies.  Another  having  fallen  out  with 
Agamemnon,  withdraws  to  his  tent:  the  Trojans  take  advantage 
of  the  misunderstanding  between  the  generals,  gain  the  superiori- 
ty, beat  the  Greeks,  force  their  entrenchments,  set  fire  to  their 
ships;  Patroclus  borrows  the  armour  of  Achilles  and  kills  Sarfie- 
don;  Hector  avenges  the  death  of  his  friend,  and  kills  Patroclua, 
then  dchilles  leaves  the  tent,  and  drives  the  Trojans  back  to  their 
walls;  and  having  forced  them  to  enter  the  town,  finds  Hector 
alone,  kills  him,  and  drags  his  dead  body  round  the  tomb  of  his 
friend,  to  whom  he  performs  magnificent  funeral  rites. — Here 
you  see  the  three  finest  poems  we  have  now  extant,  founded  on 
very  ordinary  pieces  of  history,  and  supported  by  the  merit  of 
heroes  of  no  extraordinary  character;  thus,  their  authors  were 
obliged  to  furnish  numberless  fables  to  bear  them  out,  and  to 
embellish  the  truths  they  blended  with  them.  Instead  of  saying, 
for  example,  Ulysses  arrived  incognito  at  Alcinour's  house,  HO- 
MER makes  him  be  conducted  by  Minerva,  who  covers  him  with 
a  cloud.  VIUGIL,  who  faithfully  imitates  the  Greek  poet,  brings 
JEneas  and  Dido  together  after  the  same  manner,  under  the  con- 
duct of  Venus.  If  the  delights  of  the  country  of  the  Lotojihagi 
detained  Ulysses's  companions  too  long,  we  are  told,  it  was  the 
fruits  of  that  island  made  those  who  eat  of  them  lose  all  remem- 
brance of  their  native  home.  Do  they  loiter  at  Cercc'a  court, 
giving  a  loose  to  riot  and  debauchery?  this  pretended  sorceress  is 


108  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS    PIIOGRESS    TO    SYSTEM.  SEC.  III. 

said  to  have  transformed  them  into  siyine.  We  are  not  to  be  told 
simply,  that  Ulysses  was  exposed  to  a  great  many  storms;  he 
must  likewise  suffer  the  addition  of  Neptune's  resentment,  who 
takes  this  way  to  avenge  his  son  Polyphemus.  What  mysteries, 
what  preparations  before  Achilles  kills  Hector!  his  mother  brings 
him  the  armour  of  Vulcan's  manufacture,  and  had  dipt  him  into  the 
Styx  to  make  him  invulnerable.  Minerva  takes  the  form  of 
Deiphobus,  to  impose  upon  Hector  by  the  imagined  assistance  of 
his  brother.  Jupiter  takes  the  scales,  weighs  the  destinies  of  those 
two  heroes;  and  seeing  Hector's  sink  down  as  far  as  Hell,  he  aban- 
dons him,  and  Achilles  takes  away  his  life.  Nothing  is  done 
among  them  but  by  machinery;  for  every  purpose  they  employ 
the  power  of  some  Deity.  "  There  every  method  of  enchanting 
us  is  practised,  all  nature  assumes  a  Body,  and  looks,  and  lives, 
and  thinks;  every  virtue  becomes  a  Divinity;  Minerva  is  pru- 
dence,  and  Venus  beauty.  It  is  no  longer  the  exhalations  that  pro- 
duce the  thunder — it  is  Jupiter  armed,  to  affright  mortals.  The 
mariners  behold  the  threatning  storm  arise — it  is  angry  Ne/itunc 
chiding  the  waves.  Echo  is  no  longer  a  sound  that  vibrates  in  the 
air — it  is  a  nymph  in  tears  bewailing  her  Narcissus" — so  says 
Boileau. — Thus  it  is  the  poets  adorn  their  subjects,  and  fill  them 
•with  sprightly  and  ingenious  images.  You  need  not  be  apprehen- 
sive of  their  saying  in  a  simple  way,  that  the  troops  of  the  two 
Alaiclis,  those  proud  Giants  who  made  war  upon  Jupiter,  increased 
their  forces  by  new  levies;  they  will  say,  these  Giants  themselves 
grew  a  cubit  every  day.  HOMER,  instead  of  describing,  that  after 
the  bloody  battle  which  was  fought  upon  the  banks  of  Xanthus, 
the  channel  of  the  river  having  been  chocked  up  with  dead  bodies, 
the  water  overflowed  its  banks  and  flooded  all  the  plain,  till  they 
took  these  bodies  out  of  the  water,  and  kindling  a  funeral-pile 
consumed  them  to  ashes;  instead  of  this,  the  poet  images  that  the 
river  feeling  himself  oppressed  in  liib  channel,  complained  of  it 
tu  vA-/.:'/:o-6.  and  not  receiving  satisfaction  from  that  hero,  he  swell- 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OP  IDOLATRY.  109 

SEC.  III.  ITS   PROGRESS   TO    SYSTEM. 

ed  against  him,  and  pursued  him  with  so  much  rapidity  that  he 
had  certainly  drowned  him,  if  Neptune  and  Minerva,  commis- 
sioned by  Jupiter,  had  not  given  him  promises  of  a  speedy  satis- 
faction. The  same  poet,  when  he  would  let  us  know  that  the 
inundations  of  the  sea,  sometime  after  the  retreat  of  the  Greeks, 
demolished  the  famous  wall  they  had  reared  up  during  the  siege 
of  Troy,  to  screen  themselves  from  the  attacks  of  the  enemy, 
says  that  Neptune  provoked  by  this  enterprise  of  the  Greeks, 
asked  permission  from  Jupiter  to  beat  it  clown  with  his  trident; 
and  having  engaged  Apollo  in  his  quarrel,  they  laboured  in  con- 
cert to  overturn  the  work.  If  the  Phenician  vessel  which  had  car- 
ried Ulysses  to  Ithaca,  is  shipwrecked  in  its  return,  we  are  sure 
to  be  told  that  Neptune  was  so  angry,  that  he  turned  it  to  a  rock. 
If  Turnus  caused  JEneas's  fleet  to  be  burned,  VIRGIL  brings  Cy- 
bele  into  play,  who  transforms  these  -vessels  into  sea-nymphs. 
Wherever  any  fine  buildings  were  to  be  seen,  such  as  the  walls  of 
Troy,  the  towers  of  Argos,  and  others,  it  was  always  the  Gods 
who  had  been  their  architects. — We  must  add  to  what  has  been 
just  said,  that  almost  the  whole  of  those  we  find  in  the  metamor- 
phoses of  OVID,  in  HYGINUS,  and  ANTONINUS  LIBEHALIS,  are 
merely  founded  upon  figurative  and  metaphorical  ways  of  speak- 
ing: they  are  commonly  real  matters  of  fact,  with  an  addition  of 
some  supernatural  circumstance  by  way  of  embellishment. 

•  -•  The  Painters  and  Statuaries,  £sV.,  working  upon 
Painters^and  Sta-  Poet'ca'  fancies,  may  be  reckoned  instrumental 
tuaries,  &c.  in  propagating  some  fables;  and  to  them,  per- 

"  haps,  we  owe  in  part  at  least,  the  existence  of 
centaurs,  sirens,  harpies,  nymphs,  satyrs,  and  fauns,  which  they 
have  painted  from  the  portraitures  of  them  given  by  the  poets,  or 
from  some  relations  of  travellers  and  fishermen.  They  have  even 
frequently  promoted  the  credit  of  fabulous  stories,  by  represent- 
ing them  with  art;  a  thing  so  true,  as  I  shall  take  notice  afterwards, 
O 


110  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  r. 

ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM.  SRC.  III. 

that  the  Pagans  owed  the  existence  of  many  of  their  Gods,  to  some 
fine  statues,  or  pictures  well  finished. 

•  To  all  these  sources  of  fable  we  may  add,  a 

Tenth,  Pretended  ,.  ,.        tr      r    ., 

interviews    with     concern  to  save  the  honour  oj  the  laaies.  It  a  trail 

the  Gods.  princess  yielded  to  her  lover,  there  were  flatterers 

enough  to  call  in  some  friendly  Deity  to  screen 
her  .reputation:  he  could  be  no  other  than  a  God  in  human  form 
who  had  triumphed  over  the  coy,  insensible  fair;  by  this  means  her 
reputation  was  safe,  and  the  gallantries  of  that  sort,  far  from  being 
infamous,  were  highly  honourable.  There  was  not  a  man,  not  ex- 
cepting even  the  good-natured  spouse  himself,  but  humoured  the 
thing;  and  the  story  of  Paulinaand  Mundus  is  not  the  only  monu- 
ment we  have  of  the  sottish  credulity  of  husbands.  Mundus,  a 
young  Roman  knight,  had  deeply  fallen  in  love  with  Paulina,  a 
married  lady,  and  after  all  his  efforts  to  touch  her  heart  had  prov- 
ed in  vain,  he  bethought  himself  of  gaining  the  priest  of  Anubis, 
who  assured  Paulina  that  the  God  was  enamoured  with  her — that 
very  night  was  Paulina  led  to  the  temple  by  her  strangely  im- 
pressed, credulous  husband.  A  few  days  after,  Mundus,  whom  she 
chanced  to  meet,  let  her  into  the  secret  of  his  base  artifice.  Paulina, 
in  a  desperate  fit,  carried  her  complaint  before  Tiberius;  who,  as 
much  Tiberius  as  lie  was,  caused  the  priest  of  Anubis  to  be  burnt, 
the  statue  of  the  God  to  be  thrown  into  the  Tiber,  and  Mundus  to 
be  sent  into  exile. — Certain  it  is,  that  an  infinite  deal  of  fables  draw 
their  origin  from  this  source:  witness  that  of  Rhea  Silvia,  the 
mother  of  Rhemus  and  Romulus:  tier  uncle  Amulius  got  into  her 
cell,  and  her  father  Numitor  spread  it  abroad  that  the  twins  she 
brought  forth  had  been  the  offspring  of  the  God  of  war.  Often  the 
priests  themselves,  when  they  were  not  proof  against  a  woman's 
charms,  made  her  believe  she  was  the  favourite  of  the  God  they 
served,  and  she  put  herself  in  order  for  lying  in  the  temple,  whi- 
ther she  was  conducted  by  the  parents  in  form.  Thus  at  Babylon, 
a  woman,  one  or  another  of  those  whom  Jupiter  Belus  had  autho- 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  Ill 

SEC.  III.  ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM. 

vised  his  priests  to  single  out,  laid  in  the  temple  every  night:  from 
such  practices  arose  that  great  stock  of  children  the  poets  have 
fathered  upon  the  Gods.  And  this,  in  effect,  generated  the  follow- 
ing ridiculous  cause  of  many  fables  and  fabulous  Deities,  viz. — 
======         That  the  great  men  of  those  times  were  com- 

^'-konedof    raon'y  actuated  by  a  foolish  ambition  of  being 
thought  descended  from  Gods.     To  be  heroes, 
nothing  less  would  satisfy  them,  than  to  have 
Jufiiter  or  Apollo  for  their  ancestors;  and  we  may  be  sure  there 
were  genealogists  to  be  found  then,  full  as  complaisant  as  at  pre- 
sent; so  that  they  were  at  no  great  loss  to  get  the  branches  of 
their  family  commenced  from  the  stock  of  some  God:  according- 
ly almost  all  the  ancient  pedigrees  were  much  in  this  manner, — 
Jupiter  was  the  founder  of  the  family,  after  him  came   Hercules, 
Sec.  Sec. 
=====        From  the  worship  of  the  Sun,  the  Moon,  and 

^SYSTEM_  o     ^EI-    ^  Stars,  whom  we  have  shown  lo  have  been 

The  adoration  of    t|ie  grst  Gods  of  the  Paeans,  they  proceeded  to 

physical    objects 

—their      tutelar    the  worship  of  other  physical  objects;  when  they 

•ie3'  looked  upon  Nature  herself,  or  the  World,  as  a 

Divinity.  This  universal  Nature  is  what  the  Assyrians  adored  un- 
der the  name  ofHelus;  the  Phenicians,  under  that  of  Moloch;  the 
Egyptians  of  Hammon;  the  Arcadians,  of  Pan;  the  Romans,  of 
Jupiter:  and,  as  if  the  World  had  been  too  great  to  be  governed  by 
one  sole  God,  they  assigned  to  every  part  of  it  a  particular  Deity, 
that  he  might  have  the  more  leisure  and  less  trouble  in  governing 
it;  or,  in  other  words,  it  was  Nature  in  her  various  scenes  they 
intended  to  adore;  and  over  each  of  her  parts  a  Divinity  was  made 
to  preside.  They  worshipped  the  Earth,  under  the  name  of  Rhea, 
Tellus,  Ojis,  Cybele;  the  Fire,  under  those  of  Vulcan  and  Vesta; 
the  Water  of  the  sea  and  rivers,  under  those  of  Oceanus,  Nefitune, 
Nereus,  the  Nereids,  Nymphs  and  Naiads;  the  Air  and  Winds,  un- 
der the  names  of  Jupiter  and  &olus.  Salacia  was  the  goddess  of 


112  HISTORY  O*  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  t. 

ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM.  SEC.  III. 

tempests;  Vollonia  and  Efiunda  took  care  of  things  exposed  to  the 
air.  The  Woods  had  their  Satyrs,  Fauns,  and  Hamadryads,  ap- 
pointed them,  with  Pan  and  Sylvanus  at  their  head.  The  God 
Terminus  presided  over  the  fields  and  marches;  Ceres  presided 
over  the  harvest  fields;  and  Flora,  Pomona,  Vertumnus,  and  Pria- 
jius,  were  guardians  of  orchards,  flowers  and  fruits;  as  Deverrona 
watched  over  the  cro/is:  Seia  had  the  care  of  the  grain  newly 
sown;  Proserpina,  when  the  stalk  was  forming;  Segetia,  when  it 
began  to  spring  up;  Patelina,  when  it  was  ready  to  put  forth  the 
ear;  and  Tutilina  to  preserve  it  in  the  granaries,  with  many 
others. 

======        \ye  have  seen  the  reasons  that  induced  men 

2d,  The  adora-  _    ,  _,       .      . 

tion   of  mankind    to  adore  some  of  their  own  s/iecies.    Gratitude, 

—their  tutelar  th  affection  of  a  wife  to  her  beloved  spouse,  or 
Deities. 

•  of  a  mother  to  her  darling  son;  the  beauty  of 

the  works  of  the  statuary,  illustrious  achievements,  the  invention 
of  necessary  arts;  all  these  made  them  honour  the  memory  of 
some  great  men,  and  were  obligations  upon  them  to  preserve  their 
pictures,  and  distinguish  their  sepulchres,  which  at  last  became 
public  temples,  as  proved  by  EUSEBIUS  and  CLEMENS  ALEXAN- 
DKINUS:  such  were  the  tombs  of  jicrisitis,  of  Cecrofis,  Erichthoni* 
us,  Cleinachus,  Cinyras,  and  several  others. — It  was  in  Egypt  and 
Phenicia  that  this  sort  of  idolatry  began;  and  in  the  former,  pro- 
bably not  long  after  the  death  of  Osiris  and  Isis.  They  having  dis- 
tinguished themselves  by  their  shining  merit,  the  people  whom 
they  had  taught  agriculture,  and  several  necessary  arts,  thought 
they  could  not  otherwise  acquit  themselves  of  the  infinite  obliga- 
tions they  had  laid  them  under,  but  by  honouring  them  as  Divini- 
ties. But  because  it  might  have  appeared  shocking  to  see  divine 
honours  paid  to  persons  but  newly  dead,  it  was  probably  given  out, 
that  their  souls  were  reunited  with  the  orbs,  from  which  they  had 
formerly  come,  according  to  their  conception,  to  animate  their 
corporeal  frames.  From  that  time,  they  were  taken  for  the  Sun 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OP  IDOLATRY.  113 

SEC.   III.  ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM. 

and  Moon,  and  their  worship  was  confounded  with  that  of  these 
two  luminaries.  This  custom  of  deifying  men,  was  propagated  from 
Egypt  to  other  nations,  and  we  find  that  the  Chaldeans,  much 
about  the  same  time,  raised  their  Belus  tu  the  order  of  the  Gods. 
The  Syrians,  Phenicians,  Greeks,  and  Romans,  all  of  them  imitat- 
ed the  Egyptians  and  Chaldeans;  and  Hea-ven,  as  CICERO  observes, 
was  soon  peopled  with  deified  mortals:  which  was  likewise  true  in 
another  sense,  since  upon  their  deification,  they  gave  out  that  their 
souls  were  united  to  certain  Stars,  which  they  chose  for  their  ha- 
bitation. Thus,  Andromeda,  Cefiheus,  Perseus  and  Cassio/ieia,  made 
up  the  constellations  that  bear  their  names;  Hififiolytus,  the  sign 
of  the  charioteer;  Esculafiius,  that  of  the  Serpents;  Ganymede,  that 
of  Aquarius;  Phaeton,  that  of  the  Chariot;  Castor  and  Pollux, 
that  of  Gemini,  or  the  twins;  Erigone  and  dstrea,  were  Vir- 
go; jltergatis,  or  rather  Venus  and  Cufiid,  took  that  of  Pisces 
or  the  Fishes;  and  so  of  others.  This  custom  passed  to  almost 
every  country,  and  penetrated  even  into  China,  where  the 
astronomers  called  the  twenty-eight  constellations,  which  in 
their  system  comprehended  all  the  stars,  by  the  names  of  as 
many  of  their  heroes,  whom  they  affirmed  to  have  been  trans- 
formed into  stars.  The  Egyptians  only  gave  the  names  of 
animals  to  the  constellations,  and  this  was  the  foundation  of  that 
worship  they  afterwards  paid  to  them. — For  children,  were  invok- 
ed the  Goddess  Nascio  or  Natio,  0/iis,  Rumina,  Patina,  Cumina, 
Levana,  Pavenlia,  Carnea,  Edusa,  Ossilago,  Statilinus,  Vagitanus, 
fabulinus,  Ju-uenta,  Nondina,  Orbona;  and  this  last  Goddess  was 
for  orphans,  or  to  comfort  fathers  and  mothers  for  the  loss  of  their 
children.  When  the'  child  was  laid  upon  the  ground,  they  recom- 
mended him  to  the  Gods  I'ilumnus  and  Picumnus:  for  fear  too  that 
the  God  Syl-uanus  should  do  him  harm,  there  were  three  other 
Divinities  who  watched  at  the  gates,  Interddo,  Pilumnus,  and 
De-uerra;  it  being  a  custom  at  the  nativity  of  a  child,  to  knock  at 
the  gate  first  with  an  axe,  then  with  a  mallet,  and  last  of  all  to  sweep 


114  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS    PROGRESS   TO   SYSTEM.  SEC.  III. 

the  porch;  believing  that  Sylvanus  seeing  these  three  signs,  durst 
not  attempt  to  harm  the  children,  whom  he  thus  judged  to  be 
under  the  protection  of  those  three  Divinities.  Siatilinus  presided 
over  children's  educaiiun,  fabulinus  taught  them  to  speak;  Pa- 
•ventia  kept  away  from  them  frightful,  terrifying  objects;  jVondina 
presided  over  the  names  given  them;  Cumina  had  the  charge  of 
the  cradle;  in  fine,  Rumia  preserved  the  milk  of  their  mothers. 
The  Efiidotes  were  Gods  that  presided  over  the  growth  of  children, 
as  their  names  declare.  The  beauteous  Hebe  and  flora  also  pre- 
sided over  youth,  and  Scnuius  over  old  age.  They  likewise  invent- 
ed Gods  for  every  part  of  the  body:  the  Sun  presided  over  the 
heart;  Jupiter  over  the  head  and  liver;  Mars  over  the  entrails; 
Minerva  over  the  eyes  and  fingers;  Juno  over  the  eye-brows; 
Pluto  over  the  back;  Venus  over  the  veins;  Saturn  over  the  spleen; 
Mercury  over  the  tongue;  Tethys  over  the  feet;  the  Moon  over 
the  stomach;  Genius  and  Modesty  over  the  forehead;  Memory 
over  the  eyes;  Faith  or  Bona  Fides  over  the  right  hand;  and 
Compassion  over  the  knees. 

•         To  complete  the  absurdity,  brute  animals  of 
3d,  The  adora-       .  ,         .     .  . 

tion  of  brute  ani-     a'most  every  description,  enjoyed  a  considerable 

mals— their  tute-  portion  of  the  Pagan  worship:  nor  was  it  only 
lar  Deities. 

particular  persons  that  offered  them  incense  and 

sacrifices,  but  whole  cities,  where  their  worship  was  established: 
thus  Memphis  and  Heliopolis  adored  the  Ox;  Sais  and  Thebes 
the  Sheep;  Cynopolis  the  dogs;  Mendes  \.\\G  goats;  the  Assyrians 
\hefiigeons.  In  some  towns  they  worshipped  the  monkeys,  in 
others  the  crocodiles  and  lizards,  the  ravens,  the  storks,  the  eagle, 
the  lion;  and  these  towns  even  frequently  bore  the  names  of  the 
animals  that  were  the  objects  of  their  worship,  as  Cynopolis, 
Leontopolis,  Mendes,  Sec.  Tnejfishea  too  became  the  object  of  a 
superstitious  worship,  not  only  among  the  Syrians,  who  durst  not 
so  much  as  eat  of  them,  but  also  in  several  towns  in  Egypt,  Ly- 
dia  and  other  countries.  Some  placed  upon  their  altars  eels,  others 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  115 

SEC.    III.  ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM. 

tortoises,  and  others  pikes.  —  They  had  likewise  a  Hippona  for 
horses;  a  Bulona  for  oxen;  and  a  Mellona  for  bees,  &c. 
===         They  did  not  stop  here;  even  the  reptiles  and 
ration  olrcptnes;     the  insects  received  divine   honours.     The  ser- 
insects  &  stones,    fonts  were  worshipped  in  Egypt,  and  in  several 

other  countries.  Epidaurus  and  Rome  had  tem- 
ples erected  to  the  adder,  which  they  believed  represented  JEscu- 
lapius.  The  Thessalians  honoured  the  pismires,  to  whom  they 
thought  they  owed  their  original;  the  Acarnanians  the  flies;  and 
if  the  inhabitants  of  Accaron  did  not  worship  them,  they  at  least 
offered  incense  to  the  genius  who  drove  them  away,  and  Beelze- 
bub was  their  great  Divinity.  —  In  fine,  the  very  stones  were  the 
object  of  public  worship;  as  that  called  Abidir  which  Saturn  had 
swallowed,  instead  of  his  son  Jupiter  when  an  infant;  and  that 
which  among  the  Phrygians  represented  the  mother  of  the  Gods; 
as  also  that  which  represented  the  God  Terminus,  who  was  a  sort 
of  march-stone  or  rock  used  as  a  land  mark. 
=====  The  passions  too  and  affections  had  Divinities 

assigned  to  them,  and  there  was  no  crime  but 


the  Passions  and  iia(j  a  natrOn  Deity:  Venus  and  Priapus  presided 
Affections. 

-    over  generation;  Morpheus  over  sleep;  Juturna 

among  the  Latins,  and  Hygieia  among  the  Greeks,  were  the  God- 
desses of  health;  and  Jaso  of  sickness.  Murcia  was  the  Goddess 
of  sloth;  and  dgenoria  inspired  courage.  They  established  a  Bel- 
lona  and  a  Mars  for  war.  The  adultress  owned  Jupiter;  the  ladies 
of  gallantry,  Venus;  jealous  wives,  Juno;  and  the  pick-pockets, 
Mercury  and  the  Goddess  Laverna.  This  is  not  all;  there  were 
Destinies  to  over-rule  every  action  in  life.  Over  marriage  pre- 
sided Juno,  Hymenius,  Thalassius,  Lucina,  Jugatinus,  Domiducus, 
and  several  others,  whose  infamous  occupations  are  enough  to  put 
every  virtuous  person  to  the  blush.  Momus  wasMie  God  of  raille- 
ry; for  jollity,  Vctula;  for  pleasures,  Volupta.  The  great  talkers 
invoked  Aius  Locutius;  while  Harpocrates  and  Sigalion  were  the 


116  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS    PROG11ESS  TO  bYSTEM.  SEC.     III. 

Gods  of  silence.  Pra-vor,  Timor,  Pallor,  were  those  whose  inven- 
tion was  owing  to  terror,  fear,  and  paleness  which  accompanies 
them.  Imprudence  itself  had  its  tutelar  Divinity,  whom  they 
made  Coalemus:  Calius  made  persons  smart  and  witty;  and  Comus 
the  God  of  revels,  gay  and  contented.  In  fine,  there  was  nothing 
which  had  not  a  friendly  divinity.  The  Romans  had  two  of  them 
for  love;  the  one  for  mutual  flames,  the  other  to  avenge  slighted 
love;  and  this  passion  was  a  Divinity  of  the  greatest  antiquity,  and 
most  universally  adored.  The  same  people  had  likewise  two 
temples  of  modesty,  one  dedicated  to  the  chastity  of  the  nobles, 
and  the  other  to  that  of  the  populace. — To  be  brief,  the  Pagans 
deified  every  virtue,  as  well  as  every  -vice.  Every  where  there 
were  to  be  seen  temples  erected  to  peace,  to  -victory,  to  faith,  to 
cle ?nency,  to  piety,  to  poverty,  to  justice,  to  liberty,  to  concord,  to 
fortune,  to  discord,  to  ambition,  to  mercy,  to  modesty,  \K>  prudence, 
to  ivisdom,  to  honour,  to  truth,  and  an  infinity  of  others. 

,•••'.  '         Men  were  apprehensive  of  evil,  desirous  of 

6th,  The  tutelar  ..       ..... 

Deities  for  parti-     g°°">  anc*  wanted  to  gratify  their  inclinations 

cularprofessions,    wjti,out  remorse;  this  was  the  original  of  all  those 
and   other   occa- 
sions. Divinities,natural  and  metaphorical,whose  names 

— — — ^— — —  correspond  to  their  employments,  who  were  look- 
ed upon  as  so  many  Genii  dispersed  through  the  world  to  regulate 
the  motions  of  men;  and  believing  them  to  be  of  a  malevolent 
disposition,  therefore  they  courted  their  favour  by  prayers  and 
sacrifices.  The  poets  invoked  Jpollo,  Minerva,  and  the  Muses; 
the  orators,  Suada  and  Pitho;  the  physicians,  Esculapius,  Medi- 
trina,  Consus,  Hygieia  and  Telesfihorus;  the  servants  and  maids, 
the  Gods  named  Anculi  and  Anculx;  shepherds,  the  God  Pan; 
cow-herds,  the  Goddess  Bubona;  horsemen,  Cantor  and  Hippona, 
— As  each  profession  had  its  Gods,  so  had  every  action  and  func- 
tion in  life:  thus  over  different  actions  presided,  Volumnus,  Volu- 
pia,  Libentia,  Horsa,  Horgilia,  Stimula,  Strenua,  Stata,  Meona^ 
8)  Jtbevna.)  Fessoriat  Fugia^  Catius,  JFidiut  or 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  117 

SEC.  III.  ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM. 

Sanctus-Fidius,  Dius,  Murcia,  JVonia,  Numerica,  Vacuna,  Vertutn- 
nus,  Fietus)  Vestitus,  Vibilia. — Pellonia  was  established  to  free 
them  from  whatever  was  annoying;  Pojiulonia,  to  dhert  all  sorts 
of  devastation.  They  had  made  a  Divinity  of  life  under  the  name 
of  Vitutd)  and  Fe-vcr  too  had  its  altars.  They  had  a  God  of  ordure, 
named  Stercutius;  one  for  other  conveniences,  Crefiitus;  a  God- 
dess for  the  common  sewers,  Cloacina. — Over  justice  presided 
Astrea,  Themis,  and  Dice.  Over  the  coining  of  brass  money,  ^Es, 
jEsculanus,  and  JEres;  and  over  specie  of  all  sorts,  Juno-Mo- 
neta,  or  simply,  Moneta. — Plutus  and  0/zs,  for  riches;  Janus,  Car- 
dea,  and  Limentina^  to  take  care  of  the  gates  of  cities,  &c.;  Clu~ 
sius  and  Patulius  were  the  Gods  they  invoked  at  opening  or  shut- 
ting them;  Later culus  and  the  Penates,  for  the  hearths;  Jufiiter 
Erceus  for  the  walls. — It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  I  should  give 
a  larger  account  of  the  subaltern  Divinities;  their  names  suffici- 
ently point  out  their  offices,  and  the  bare  naming  them  is  enough 
to  give  one  a  notion  of  them,  when  they  occur  in  the  poets  and 
mythologists.  I  shall  only  remark,  1st,  That  almost  the  whole 
of  these  latter  Divinities  were  of  Roman  invention,  as  their  names 
sufficiently  discover;  whereby  we  see  how  many  Gods,  known  to 
none  but  the  Romans  themselves,  had  been  introduced  by  those 
Lords  of  the  world,  though  they  had  besides  adopted  almost  all 
the  Gods  of  every  nation  which  they  subdued.  2nd,  That  the 
greater  part  of  these  Divinities  were  the  invention  of  sculptors 
and  painters.  3d,  That  some  of  them  were  peculiar  to  certain 
families,  and  sometimes  even  to  single  persons.  4th,  That  all 
the  deified  virtues  were  nothing  but  symbols  that  represented 
them,  either  upon  medals,  where  numbers  of  them  are  to  be 
found,  or  upon  other  monuments,  and  in  inscriptions.  5th,  That 
their  worship  was  neither  in  so  great  reputation  nor  extent,  as 
that  of  the  great  Gods:  and  yet  a  great  many  of  them  had  their 
altars  and  chapels,  and  were  invoked  at  certain  times;  as  before 
P 


118  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS    PROGRESS    TO   SYSTEM.  SEC.  III. 

harvest,  at  the  vintages,  when  they  gathered  fruits,  in  diseases 
upon  men  or  beasts,  &c.  Sec. 

•   "  '  Besides  these  Gods,  whose  number  is  already 

ties  that  received    exorbitant,  every  nation  had  some  peculiar  to 

peculiar    honour    itseif.  as  others  were  proper  to  certain  towns, 
in  particular  pla- 
ces, particularly  among  the   Greeks   and   Romans, 

whether  they  were  believed  to  have  been  born 
in  those  towns,  or  to  afford  them  a  particular  protection.  In  a 
Avord,  the  whole  world  was  divided  among  numberless  Divinities. 
The  great  Gods  were  acknowledged  universally,  though  honour- 
ed more  particularly  in  certain  places;  the  rest  were  worshipped 
only  among  some  nations,  and  in  some  countries.  Thus,  besides 
his  universal  worship,  Jufiiter  was  peculiarly  honoured  in  Crete, 
where  he  was  believed  to  have  been  brought  up;  at  Dicte,  or 
Mount  Ida;  on  Mount  Olympus;  at  Pirea  in  Epirus;  and  at  Do- 
dona.  Juno  at  Argos;  at  Mycenae;  at  Phalisca;  at  Samos;  and  at 
Carthage.  Ceres  in  Sicily,  and  at  Eleusis.  Vesta  or  Cybele, 
throughout  all  Phrygia;  above  all  at  Berecynthus,  and  Pessinus. 
Minerva  at  Alalcomene;  at  Athens,  and  at  Argos.  Jlfiollo  at 
Chrysa,  a  city  in  Phrygia;  at  Delphos;  at  Cylla;  at  Claros,  one  of 
the  Cyclades;  at  Cynthus,  a  mountain  in  Delos;  at  Grynium;  at 
Lesbos;  at  Miletos;  at  Phaselis,  a  mountain  in  Lycia,  at  Smyn- 
thus;  at  Rhodes;  at  Tenedos;  at  Cyrrha;  among  the  Hyperbo- 
reans, and  elsewhere.  Diana  at  Ephcsus,  at  Delos;  at  Mycenae; 
at  Brauron  in  Attica;  at  Magnesia;  upon  mount  Menala;  at  Se- 
gesta,  fccc.  Venus,  at  Amathus  in  Cyprus;  at  Cythera;  at  Gnidus, 
at  Paphos,  at  Idalia;  upon  mount  Eryx  in  Sicily;  and  upon  Ida  in 
Phrygia.  Mars  at  Rome;  among  the  Getes,  and  other  northern 
people;  and  among  the  Thracians.  Vulcan  in  the  jEolian  islands; 
at  Le.mnos,  near  mount  JEma;  and  in  earlier  times,  in  Egypt, 
•whose  first  Divinity  he  was,  according  to  the  best  authors.  Mer* 
cury  upon  Helicon,  and  the  Cyllenian  mountains;  at  Nonacria; 
and  generally  through  all  Arcadia.  Neptune  in  the  Isthmus  of 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  119 

SEC.  III.  ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM. 

Corinth;  at  Taenarus;  and  upon  all  tlie  Seas.  Nereus  upon  the 
sea-coasts,  and  by   seamen.   Saturn  in  several   places  of  Italy. 
Pluto  in  all  the  sacrifices  offered  to  the  dead.  Bacchus  at  Thebes, 
Nysa,  Naxos,  &c.  Esculafiius  at  Epidaurus;  at  Rome;  and  else- 
where. Pan  upon  Menalus  in  Arcadia,  Sec.    Fortune  at  Antium; 
and  JEolus  in  the  Isles  that  bore  his  name.     Theses  were  the 
principal  places  in  Greece,  in  Asia  minor,  and  in  Italy,  where  the 
Gods  were  honoured  with  a  particular  worship. 
======         We   will  now  speak  of  the   Demi-Gods  and 

Demi-Gods    He-    Heroes;  and  what  a  prodigious  number  of  them 

roes,   Genii,  and    aiSOj  shall  we  find!  Their  temples  were  diffused 

Junones. 

^^====^^^    over  all  the  earth,  and  their  worship,  though 

less  solemn  than  that  of  the  Gods,  made  a  considerable  part  of 
the  Pagan  religion.  ^Eneas,  surnamed  Jufiiter-Indigetes  had  a 
chapel  erected  to  his  honour  upon  the  bunks  of  the  river  Numi- 
cus;  Janus,  Faunus,  Picus,  Evander,  Fatua,  or  Carmenta,  Acca- 
Laurentia  or  Flora,  Matuta,  Portumnus,  Mania,  Anna-Perrenna, 
Vertumnus,  Romulus,  and  several  others,  were  honoured  among 
the  Latins.  Hercules,  Theseus,  Castor  and  Pollux,  Helen,  Aga- 
memnon, and  most  of  the  heroes  of  the  golden  fleece,  or  of  the 
siege  of  Troy,  had  temples  and  altars  in  most  of  the  cities  of 
Greece.  Laconia  honoured  Hyacinthus  who  fought  against  the 
.  Amyclaeans;  not  to  mention  Agamemnon,  Menelaus,  Paris  and 
Ddlihobus.  The  Messenians  offered  incense  and  sacrifices  to 
Polycaon,  to  his  wife  Messena,  to  their  son  Triofias,  and  to  the 
celebrated  Macfiaon,  son  of  Esculafiius.  The  Arcadians  granted 
divine  honours  to  Calisto,  to  his  son  Areas,  to  Aristeus  who  had 
quitted  the  island  of  Cos  where  he  was  born,  for  Arcadia,  where 
he  taught  that  people  the  art  of  training  up  bees.  The  people 
of  Argos  honoured  Perseifs,  Lynceus,  Hyfiermnestra,  lo,  Afiis. 
The  Arcadians  revered  Amfihilochus,  and  consulted  his  oracles. 
The  people  of  Athens  had  filled  that  famous  city  with  the  temple 
of  Cecrops  of  his  daughters  Aglauros,  Herset  and  fandrososj  of 


V  * 
129  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM.  SEC.  III. 

Celeus  and  Trifitolemus  his  son,  of  Erectheua  and  his  daughters: 
there  also  were  to  be  seen  the  temples  of  jEgeus;  of  Theseus;  of 
Dedalus,  and  Perdix  his  nephew;  of  Androgeos,  Alcmena,  JEacus, 
and  Inlaus  the  famous  companion  of  Hercules  in  his  labours;  of 
Codrus,  and  an  infinity  of  others.  At  Delphos  was  to  be  seen 
that  of  Neoptolemus;  at  Megara  that  of  Alcathous;  among  the 
Oropians  that  of  Amfihiaraus.  Thebes  was  famous,  not  only  for 
the  worship  of  Bacchus,  Semele,  Cadmus  and  Hermione,  but  also 
of  that  whole  illustrious  family;  thus  Ino  and  Melicerta  had  their 
temples  and  their  altars  there,  as  well  as  Hercules,  lolaus  and 
Amfihiaraus.  In  Elis,  the  women  sacrificed  once  a  year  to  Hiji- 
fiodamia,  the  daughter  of  Pelofis.  Telesfihorus  was  honoured  at 
Pergamus;  Damia  or  Lamia,  Epidaurus;  Nemesis  at  Rhamnus; 
Sanctus  or  Sangus,  among  the  Sabines;  Adramus  and  Palicus^ 
in  Sicily;  Coronis  at  Sicyon;  Boreas  in  Thrace;  Tellenus  at  Aqui- 
leia;  Tanais  in  Armenia;  Ferentina  at  Ferentum;  Tages  in  Etru- 
ria,  the  modern  Tuscany;  Feronia  in  several  places  of  Italy; 
Marica  at  Minternae;  tiie  Graces  at  Oachomenos;  the  Muses  in 
Pieria,  and  at  Lesbos;  and  Amfihilochus  at  Oropos.  Thessaly 
sacrificed  to  Pelt-us,  to  Chiron,  to  Achilles.  The  island  of  Tene- 
dos  to  Tenrs;  that  of  Chios  to  Aristeus  and  Drimachus;  Samos  to 
Lysand<r;  Naxus  to  Ariadne',  the  Jiginetae  to  JEacus;  the  people 
of  Salamis  to  the  famous  Ajax,  son  of  Telamon;  the  island  of 
Crete  to  Eurofia,  Idomeneus,  Molon,  and  Minos.  In  Africa  were 
to  be  seen  the  temples  of  several  kings.  The  Moors  honoured 
Juba;  the  Cyi  enians,  Battus;  the  Carthaginians  Dido,  Amilcar,  Sec. 
The  Thracians  honouied  Orpheus,  and  their  legislator  Zamolxis. 
There  would  be  no  end  of  it,  were  we  to  run  over  all  the  other 
places  celebrated  for  the  worship  of  some  particular  Divinity, 
since  the  whole  earth  was  full  of  temples  and  altars,  raised  not 
only  to  the  great  Gods,  but  also  to  the  Indigetes;  and,  generally 
speaking,  every  people  and  city  advanced  their  founders  and  con- 
querors to  a  place  among  the  Gods.  If  proofs  should  be  thought 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  121 

SEC.  III.  ITS    PROGRESS    TO    SYSTEM. 

necessary  for  all  that  I  have  suid  upon  this  last  article,  we  need 
but  read  STRABO  and  PAUSANIAS,  who  mention  temples  conse- 
crated to  all  those  heroes;  and  among  the  moderns,  MEURSIUS 
in  his  excellent  treatise  of  the  festivals  of  Greece;  the  first  book 
of  Vossius,  and  ROSINUS. — In  fine,  if  to  all  these  Gods  we  add 
the  Genii  and  the  Junones,  who  were  as  guardian  angels  to  every 
man  and  woman,  we  shall  have  no  difficulty  in  believing  what 
PLINY  says,  that  the  number  of  the  Gods  surpassed  that  of  men; 
far  less  what  VARRO  reports,  who  makes  the  number  amount  to 
only  thirty  thousand. 

=         I  am  far  from  denying  there  were  some  in 
A  few  individ- 
ual     exceptions    every  age,   through  almost  every  country  of  the 

ru°pTioragan  ^  world*  who  ^ncerely  rejected  those  ridiculous 
=====  Deities,  at  least  the  most  of  them.  I  know  God 
reserved  to  himself  some  SERVANTS  among  the  most  idolatrous 
nations;  that  Salem  had  its  Melchisedeck,  the  Idumeans  their 
Job,  the  Chaldeans  their  Abraham:  but  excepting  these,  we  may 
believe  that  the  whole  earth  was  overspread  with  the  darkness  of 
idolatry;  that  there  were  none  but  the  Jewish  people  in  a  corner 
of  the  world,  who  retained  the  idea  and  worship  of  the  true  God; 
nay,  that  same  people,  who  are  but  too  justly  charged  with  ingra- 
.titude,  and  always  immersed  in  sensuality,  notwithstanding  the 
conspicuous  favours  they  received  from  their  God,  and  the  con- 
tinual prohibitions  of  the  prophets,  suffered  themselves  but  too 
often  to  be  drawn  away  by  the  fatal  propensity  which  they  had  to 
idolatry. 


HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 

ITS    DECLINE.  SEC.  IV. 

SECTION    FOURTH. 

ITS  DECLINE. 

WE  have  now  seen  what  sort  of  Gods  they 
Pagan  extrava-  were,  whom  the  blinded  world  adored!  What  a 
Sancei  mortifying  spectacle  to  human  nature!  to  see, 

for  more  than  two  thousand  years,  the  whole 
earth  filled  with  temples  raised  to  vain  idols,  where  innocent  vic- 
tims were  offered  up  to  criminal  Deities,  and  the  richest  perfumes 
shed  for  idols  who  had  no  sense  of  them;  prayers  put  up  to  Gods 
•who  were  incapable  of  hearing  their  votaries;  vain  endeavours 
used  to  appease  them,  who  knew  not  whether  they  had  received 
any  provocation;  and  their  assistance  implored,  who,  all  the  while, 
knew  nothing  of  our  wants!!  Sure  man,  left  to  his  own  guidance, 
is  a  strange  fantastical  being!!! 

1  But  the  system  of  which  we  have  been  speak- 

which   was   kept     .  ,  ..    .  .  ,. 

in  vogue  chiefly    inS'  was  tne  Predominant  religion,  and  few  peo- 

by  habit  and  the     ple  examined  it  so  as  to  discover  its  faults.  There 

convenience  of  it; 

=^=======l    uses  not  to  be  a  great  deal  of  reasoning  upon  the 

subject  of  religion;  the  common  way  is  for  the  children  to  follow 
that  of  their  fathers,  and  but  few  people  are  converted  by  reason- 
ings. Besides,  the  Pagan  religion  was  not  very  incommodious: 
however  incumbered  it  was  with  ceremonies,  it  allowed  an  entire 
liberty  in  morals.  When  a  religion  is  thus  indulgent  to  people's 
inclinations,  they  hardly  think  of  examining  into  it:  would  it  have 
been  agreeable  to  them  to  exchange  Gods  who  were  themselves 
the  models  of  vice,  for  others  who  would  have  punished  them 
with  severity?  It  is  certain,  that  lust  and  ignorance  introduced  it; 
and  that  interest,  the  passions,  and  voluptuousness  maintained  it. 
Thus,  we  are  not  to  be  surprised  at  its  having  prevailed  so  long 
in  the  world,  where  even  yet  it  is  not  totally  destroyed,  since  there 
are  people  at  this  clay  who  groan  under  the  tyranny  of  the  Devil; 
nor  is  that  happy  period  yet  arrived,  when  all  the  world  is  to  ac- 


CHAP.  I.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY. 

SEC.   IV.  ITS    DECLINE. 

knowledge  but  one  GOD,  by  JESUS  CHRIST.  But  what  may  give 
us  surprise,  is,  how  idolatry  has  been  propagated  to  the  most  re- 
mote nations,  and  there  continued  till  now,  since  it  is  certain 
that  the  idolatry  of  the  Indies,  of  Persia,  and  of  the  north  of 
Asia,  is  precisely  the  same  with  the  ancient  Egyptian  idolatry. 

I  The  monstrous  errors  into  which  men  have  been  carried,  will 
always  be  the  disgrace  of  human  nature.  Who  would  not  indeed 
be  surprised,  to  seethe  world,  which  God  had  made  for  the  mani- 
festation of  his  power,  become  a  ttmfile  of  idols;  to  see  man  so 
blind  as  to  adore  the  work  of  his  own  hands;  and  offer  incense  to 

.  beasts  and  refitiles:  and  after  having  set  up  these  idols,  to  believe 
there  was  a  necessity  for  shedding  his  own  blood,  in  order  to  ap- 
pease them?  For  in  fact  among  every  nation  of  the  world,  men 
have  sacrificed  victims  of  their  own  species,  as  with  some  it  has 
even  been  a  common  practice. 

•  But  if  idolatry  be  so  great  a  perversion  of  the 

and  which  Divine      , 

interposition  alone  human  mind,  ought  we  not  to  be  less  astomsn- 
could  eradicate.  ed  at  jts  being  destroyed,  than  at  its  having  con- 
tinued so  long?  Its  extravagance  shews  the  diffi- 
culty there  was  to  subdue  it.  The  world  had  grown  old  in  this 
error:  enchanted  by  its  own  idols,  it  had  become  deaf  to  the  voice 
of  nature,  which  cried  aloud  against  them.  Besides,  every  thing 
'  was  engaged  in  its  behalf:  the  senses,  the  passions,  lust,  igno- 
rance, a  false  veneration  for  antiquity,  the  interest  of  private  per- 
sons, and  that  of  the  state.  On  one  hand,  nothing  was  so  mon- 
strous as  the  system  of  idolatry;  and  at  the  same  time,  nothing  so 
delusive.  Indeed,  how  greatly  must  the  passions  have  been 
soothed,  by  adoring  Gods  who  had  themselves  been  subject  to 
them,  and  finding  examples  in  them  to  authorise  and  justify  the 
greatest  irregularities?  Religion,  instead  of  curbing,  served  to 
deify  vice:  the  conduct  of  the  Gods,  their  history  Renewed  in  their 
festivals  and  sacrifices,  was  wholly  calculated  for  inspiring  men 
•with  a  fond  tegard  to  their  passions.  Gods  revengeful,  im- 


124  HISTORY  OP  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I. 


ITS    DECLINE. 


pure,  and  debauched,  were  made  for  a  corrupt  nature,  which 
wishes  to  be  gratified  without  remorse,  and  with  impunity. — We 
may  add,  that  idolatry  was  entirely  calculated  for  pleasure:  diver- 
sions, shows,  and  in  short  licentiousness  itself,  were  consecrated 
by  it  to  be  a  part  of  divine  worship.  The  festivals  were  nothing 
but  games,  and  from  no  action  in  human  life,  was  modesty  more 
effectually  banished  than  from  the  mysteries  of  religion.  What 
power  was  requisite  to  restore  the  impressions  of  the  true  God, 
which  were  so  entirely  defaced  from  the  minds  of  men?  How 
should  depraved  hearts  be  habituated  to  the  strict  rules  of  the  true 
religion,  which  is  chaste,  an  enemy  to  sensuality,  and  solely  at- 
tached to  the  blessings  of  an  invisible  world?  These  desirable 
ends  seemed  beyond  the  power  of  human  means  to  accomplish: 
it  rested  with  the  true  GOD  himself  to  devise  the  effectual  remedy. 
Accordingly,  in  this  forlorn  state  of  the  world,  GOD  compassiona- 
ting our  miseries,  sent  his  own  son  to  redeem  our  sins  and  restore 
us  to  the  path  of  righteousness.  No  sooner  did  this  new  Sun  arise} 
than  the  darkness  of  idolatry  began  gradually  to  disappear.  The 
spotless  lamb  was  soon  seen  in  possession  of  the  rights  which  the 
devil  had  usurped;  and  JESUS  CHRIST  CRUCIFIED,  appeared  in 
the  centre  of  the  CAPITOL,  instead  of  the  infamous  Jupiter. 


'• 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY. 

SECTION    FIRST. 
THE  STATUES  OF  ITS  DEITIES. 

TO  reduce  within  bounds  a  subject  in  itself  so 
extensive,  I  shall  examine  1st,  What  the  figures 

through    several     of  the  Gods  were,  before  sculpture  was  invented. 

periods,  &c.,  viz. 

_ __^_^____    2d,  What  they  were,  when  this  art  was  but  rude 

and  imperfect.  3d,  The  pitch  of  perfection  to  which  statuary  was 
afterwards  carried.  4th,  The  materials  they  used  for  the  statues 
of  the  Gods.  5th,  The  extreme  greatness  or  smallness  of  some 
of  those  figures.  6th,  The  places  where  they  were  most  ordina- 
rily set  up.  Lastly,  by  what  symbols  the  Gods  were  therein  dis- 
tinguished. 

•  '    "  1st,  What  their  figures  were  before  sculp- 

First,  By  shape-  .               ,     T       ,      _ 

less   stones,  pil-  ture  was  invented.  In  the  first  ages,  as  most  na- 

lars,  trunks  of  tjons  fcnew  neither  towns  nor  houses,  and  dwelt 
trees,  &c. 

only  in  huts,  or  under  moveable  tents,  wandering 

about  to  different  places  in  quest  of  fixed  settlements,  it  was  nei- 
ther easy  nor  convenient  for  them  to  build  temples  and  set  up 
idols;  and  this  is  what  obliged  them  at  first  to  choose  for  the  ex- 
ercise of  their  religion,  ca^es,  groves,  and  mountains;  the  priests 
and  legislators  having:  considered  those  retired  places,  as  exceed-- 
in glv  .  "c  a  more  venerable  aspect  to  the  n 

Q 


126  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

THE    STATUES    OF    ITS    DEITIES.  SEC.  I. 

religion.  PLINY  expresses  himself  clearly  upon  this  subject. 
The  trees,  says  he,  and  fields  were  in  old  times  the  temples  of 
the  Gods.  This  is  what  gave  rise  to  the  consecration  of  groves, 
a  custom  that  lasted  as  long  as  idolatry  itself.  When  they  came 
to  build  temples,  the  sacred  groves  still  continued  to  be  in  use, 
and  oft-times  they  enclosed  them  with  a  plantation.  Those  first 
temples  had  no  idols.  It  was  not  till  the  invention  of  architecture 
that  the  art  of  making  idols  came  to  be  known.  HERODOTUS  and 
LUCIAN  let  us  know  this  much  of  the  Egyptians  and  Scythians. 
If  we  may  believe  PLUTARCH  after  VAKRO,  the  Romans  were 
one  hundred  and  seventy  years  without  statues  or  idols,  and  even 
Numa  Pompilius  prohibited  them  by  a  law  equally  wise  and  ju- 
dicious. In  like  manner,  SILIUS  ITALICUS  tells  us,  that  the  tem- 
ple of  Jupiter  Ammon  was  without  an  idol,  and  that  the  eternal 
Jire  they  preserved  there,  represented  the  Divinity  of  the  place. 
In  fine,  TEHTULLIAN  lets  us  know,  that  even  in  his  time  there 
were  several  temples  that  had  no  statues.  Before  statuary  was 
invented,  they  paid  a  religious  worship  to  shapeless  stones,  to 
pillars,  and  other  things  of  that  nature;  this  is  what  we  learn 
from  several  authors.  SANCHONIATHON  says,  the  most  ancient 
statues  were  nothing  but  unhetved  stones,  which  he  calls  Bxtilia; 
which  word  probably  comes  from  Bethel,  the  name  which  JACOB 
gave  to  the  stone  he  set  up  for  an  altar,  after  his  wrestling  with 
the  Angel.  PAUSANIAS  speaks  of  the  statues  of  Hercules  and  of 
Cupid,  that  were  nothing  but  two  masses  of  stone.  The  Scythians, 
according  to  CLEMENS  ALEXANDRINUS,  in  ancient  times  adored 
a  scymitar  as  the  God  of  war;  the  Arabians  adored  a  rough  un- 
hewn stone;  and  other  nations  contented  themselves  with  erect- 
ing the  trunk  of  a  tree  or  a  jtillar  of  some  other  materials,  with- 
out ornament.  In  the  Orkneys,  the  image  of  Diana  was  a  log  of 
wood  umvrought;  and  at  Cytheron,  their  Juno  Thespia  was  nothing 
but  the  trunk  of  a  tree;  that  at  Samos  but  a  simple  plank,  and  so 
of  others. 


CHAP.  H.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  127 


THE    STATUES    OF    ITS    DEITIES. 


1  2d,  The  origin  of  sculpture  is  lost  in  the  most 

fig-ure°of  LnBOxor    remote  antiquity.  It  is  enough  to  know  that  the 

Calf,  and  statues  Egyptians  had  it  in  MOSES'S  time,  and  perhaps 
called  Termes. 

-    long  before  the  statues  of  their  Gods,  spoken  of 

in  the  books  of  that  sacred  legislator;  the  statues  of  their  God 
dfiis,  too  faithfully  imitated  by  the  Israelites,  who  worshipped 
him  in  the  wilderness,  under  the  form  of  an  Ox  or  Ca(f,  prove  it 
beyond  contradiction;  and  I  make  no  doubt,  but  in  the  very  time 
when  the  yet  rough  and  barbarous  nations  worshipped  either 
s/iafieless  masses,  or  simple  trunks  of  trees,  sculpture  was  then 
known,  not  only  in  Egypt,  but  also  in  Syria,  and  the  adjacent 
countries.  For  the  arts  sprung  originally  from  the  countries  I 
had  named,  were  but  gradually  propagated  to  the  west. — At  the 
first,  sculpture  itself  was  extremely  rude,  and  rose  but  slowly  to 
that  height  of  perfection  when  it  became  admired,  especially  in 
Greece,  for  the  master-pieces  it  formed.  Consequently  we  may 
suppose,  that  the  first  statues  of  the  Gods,  though  modelled  by 
this  new  art,  were  still  exceedingly  coarse.  They  had  the  eyes 
shut,  and  the  arms  hanging  down,  and  as  it  were  glued  to  the 
body,  and  the  feet  joined;  neither  expression,  nor  attitude,  nor 
gesture.  They  were  mostly  square,  and  like  mis-shapen  figures, 
that  ended  like  those  figures  called  Termes.  The  cabinets  of  the 
curious  furnish  several  models  of  these  Statues;  they  are  dug  up 
yet  every  day,  especially  in  Egypt,  and  the  most  uncontroverted 
marks  of  their  antiquity,  is,  when  they  are  such  as  I  have  des- 
cribed them, 

3d,  They  continued  in  this  state,  at  least  in  the 

'  perfect  WeSt'  until  DEDALUS>  in  the  time  of  Minos  H., 
symmetry.  and  of  Theseus,  had  the  art  of  giving  to  his  Sta- 

"  tues,  eyes,  feet,  and  hands.  In  some  measure  he 

put  soul  and  life  into  them,  and  so  surprising  was  this  change,  as 
to  give  rise  to  a  common  report  of  his  having  animated  them, 
made  them  walk,  8cc.  The  statues  of  the  Gods  improved  by  this, 


128  MACHINERY  OP  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

THE    STATUES    OF    ITS    DEITIES.  SEC.  I. 

it  was  to  bring  them  to  perfection  that  the  most  skilful  artists 
mainly  applied  themselves;  and  time  at  length  produced  the 
master-pieces  of  a  PHIDIAS,  PRAXITILES,  and  MYRON,  which 
were  the  principal  ornaments  of  Greece,  and  drew  the  just  admi- 
ration of  persons  of  taste,  as  at  this  very  day  do  those  of  them  that 
are  yet  remaining.  Such,  among  others,  are  the  Venus  of  Medicis, 
the  Antinous,  the  Hercules,  and  the  fine  Jupiter  still  to  be  seen  at 
Versailles.  However  I  know  not  from  what  veneration  of  anti- 
quity, they  still  kept  up  the  old  taste,  in  those  statues  they  called 
Hermes  or  Termes. 

•   ••  4th,  Sculpture  beine:  an  art  which  imitates 
Fourth,  Them* 

teriuh  of  statuary  nature,  both  in  the    design  and   solidity  of  Us 

wereearth^wood,  materiais.   jt  nas   for  jts  SUDject,   timber,   stone, 

ivory,       metals,  marble,  ivory,  and  different  metals,  as  cold,  sil- 

wax,  &c. 

-  ver,  brass,  precious  stones,  8cc.  As  it  compre- 
hends also  the  art  of  founding,  which  is  subdivided  into  the  art 
of  moulding  figures  in  wax,  and  that  of  castingall  sorts  of  metals, 
the  statuaries  were  at  liberty  to  use  all  these  materials^  and  all 
these  forms  for  the  statues  of  the  Gods.  History  informs  us,  there 
Avere  some  of  them  of  each  sort;  some  made  of  wood,  the  most 
precious  of  its  kind  and  least  liable  to  corruption.  That  of  Jupiter 
at  Sicyon,  was  of  box- wood;  and  at  Ephesus,  that  of  Diana  was 
of  cedar.  Elsewhere,  they  were  to  be  met  with  of  citron-wood, 
of  palm  tree,  of  olive-wood,  of  ebony,  and  of  cypress.  We  have 
also  accounts  of  the  golden  ones  that  were  in  the  temple  of 
Belus  at  Babylon,  and  of  Apollo  at  Delphos.  We  shall  give  a  des- 
cription of  that  of  Jupiter  Qlympius^  where  gold  was  artfully 
blended  with  ivory,  ebony,  and  precious  stones;  a  master-piece 
which,  as  PLINY  tells  us,  nobody  durst  imitate.  It  would  be  to  no 
purpose  to  dwell  upon  those  of  marble,  or  of  stone,  whose  number 
was  immensely  great.  I  have  mentioned  above,  the  principal 
artists,  who,  of  those  different  materials,  had  composed  master- 
pieces of  skill.  One  who  has  the  curiosity  to  find  statues  of  Gods 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  129 

SEC     I.  THE    STATVES    OF    ITS    DEITIES 

of  all  the  forms  and  materials  I  have  mentioned,  needs  but  read 
PAUSANIAS,  who  describes  of  them  of  all  sorts. — Generally  speak- 
ing, the  statues  of  the  Gods,  after  the  invention  of  sculpture,  were 
chiefly  but  of  moulded  earth,  and  brittle  like  simple  vases.  This 
art  of  moulding  earth  or  clay,  is  called  Jictillis,  and  the  works  it 
produces,  Jictillia.  The  sacred  writers,  especially  the  prophets, 
are  continually  reproaching  the  Pagans  for  worshipping  these 
sorts  of  idols.  In  later  times,  those  statues  were  laid  over  •with 
different  colours,  and  at  last^they  were  gilt.  The  Romans,  whose 
religion  fora  long  time  declared  the  simplicity  of  their  manners, 
•were  very  late  in  beginning  to  have  these  gilded  statues;  till  then 
they  had  only  the  colour  of  the  earth  of  which  they  were  made. 
PLINY  praises  the  primitive  Roman  simplicity.  Men,  says  he, 
who  sincerely  honoured  such  Gods,  give  us  no  reason  to  be 
ashamed  of  them.  To  them,  continues  he,  gold  was  of  no  con- 
sideration, either  for  themselves  or  their  Gods.  JUVENAL,  speak- 
ing of  the  earthen  statue  which  Tarquin  the  elder  set  up  in  the 
temple  of  Jupiter^  calls  it  the  earthen  Jupiter^  whom  gold  had  not 
tarnished  nor  defiled.  TITUS  LIVIUS  has  informed  us  at  what 
period  gilt  statues  were  first  introduced;  it  was  according  to  him, 
under  the  consulship  of  P.  Cornelius  Cethegus. 

1        5th,  As  there  was  no  fixed  rule  as  to  the  mate- 
of  Statues  ^ary    rials  °^  tne  statues  of  the  Gods,  there  was  as  little 
from  the  Pigmy  to    for  tjiejr  size    ancj  jt  depended  upon  the  caprice 
the  Colossus. 
==^^===^^    of  the  workmen,  or  the  will  of  those  by  whom 

they  were  employed,  either  to  make  them  great  or  small.  Ac- 
cordingly while  the  Egyptians  valued  themselves  upon  those 
colossal  statues  that  were  to  be  seen  in  the  porches  of  their  tem- 
ples, frequently  nothing  was  to  be  found  within  those  edifices  but 
some  pitiful  monkeys  or  pigmies,  which  provoked  the  contempt  and 
ridicule  of  spectators;  witness  Cambyses,  when  he  was  introduced 
into  the  temple  of  Vulcan  at  Memphis,  as  we  said  above.  Greece 
chose  sometimes  to  imitate  the  Egyptian  manner  in  those  colos- 


130  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

THK    STATUES    OF    ITS    DEITIES.  SEC.  I. 

suses,  and  had  several  statues  of  her  Gods  of  an  enormous  bigness. 
That  of  Jupiter  Olympus,  and  several  others  besides  were  much 
larger  than  life;  but  the  most  extraordinary  one,  was  the  colossus 
at  Rhodes,  representing  Apollo,  which  was  looked  upon  as  one  of 
the  seven  wonders  of  the  world.  This  statue,  done  b\  CHARES, 
was  twelve  years  in  finishing,  and  its  height  was  seventy  cubits: 
it  was  so  placed,  that  its  two  feet  stood  upon  the  two  moles,  winch 
formed  the  harbour  of  Rhodes,  and.  ships  at  full  sail  passed  between 
its  legs.  We  may  judge  of  what  an  enormous  size  this  Colossus 
must  have  been,  when  few  persons  were  able  to  embrace  one  of 
its  thumbs.  Notwithstanding  the  weight  of  this  prodigious  mass; 
notwithstanding  the  dangers  of  the  sea,  and  the  length  of  time  it 
•was  exposed,  yet  it  continued  standing  for  the  space  of  1 360  years; 
and  its  fall  at  last  was  only  owing  to  an  earthquake.  A  Jewish 
merchant  bought  it  of  the  Saracens;  and  having  taken  it  to  pieces, 
loaded  900  camels  with  it.  Nor  was  it  only  the  Egyptians  and 
Greeks  who  had  those  colossal  figures;  the  Romans  would  needs 
imitate  their  example,  as  in  that  metropolis  there  were  no  fewer 
than  five  of  them,  two  of  Apollo,  two  of  Jupiter,  and  one  of  the 
Sun,  (for  the  Sun  was  often  distinguished  from  Apollo;}  not  to 
mention  two  others,  one  of  them  represented  Domitidn,  the  other 
Nero:  but  as  if  statues  of  this  sort  had  of  right  belonged  to  none 
but  Gods,  they  caused  an  Apollo's  head  to  be  set  on  the  latter. — 
These  works  were  curiosities  of  their  kind;  but  for  the  most  part 
the  statues  of  the  Gods  imitated  beautiful  nature,  especially  when 
they  were  to  be  planted  within  the  easy  reach  of  the  eye.  Thus, 
those  of  the  Gods  were  a  degree  larger  and  more  robust  than 
those  of  the  Goddesses,  with  respect  to  whom  the  expert  artists 
made  it  their  business  chiefly  to  imitate  the  softness  and  delicacy 
of  the  sex. — There  were  however  Gods,  whose  statues  were  or- 
dinarily little,  and  perhaps  there  was  a  necessity  for  them  to  be 
so.  Those  of  the  Pataici  or  Patceci,  which  they  set  upon  the  sterns 
of  ships,  were  of  this  kind,  if  we  credit  HERODOTUS,  as  also  those 


CHAP.  II.  HISTORY  OF  IDOLATRY.  151 

SEC.   I.  THE    STATUES   OF    ITS    DEITIES. 

of  the  Lares,  the  Penates,  the  Cabiri,  and  some  others.  There 
were  others,  whose  statues  were  monstrous,  representing  the 
heads  of  a  dog,  a  cat,  a  goat,  a  monkey,  a  lion,  Sec.,  as  we  shall 
shew  when  we  come  to  the  Gods  of  Egypt. 

1  "         6th,  The  number  of  statues  of  the  Gods  was 
tues^were  set^up"    immense,  not  only  in  Greece  and  Italy,  but  like- 
in  temples,  in  pri-    wjse  m  tne  eastern  countries;  and  nothing  sets 
vate  houses,  and 
in  the  fields.  it   forth   to   us    more  strongly  than  the  scrip- 

""  ture  expression,  which  styles  Chaldea  a  land  of 
idols.  Accordingly  they  occurred  every  where,  in  temples,  where 
they  were  upon  pedestals,  or  set  in  niches;  in  public  places;  at  the 
gates  of  houses;  and  without  the  cities,  on  the  highways  and 
in  the  Jields. 

t        7th,  Though  the  manner  of  representing  the 
usagTsTifreglrd     Gods  was  not  uniform,  there  were  however,  cer- 
to  the  expression,    tajn  usages  generally  observed.     Thus,  to  Jupi- 
and   the    symbols 
of  the  Statues.        ter  was  given  a  noble  and  majestic  air,  which 

—--—  spoke  the  sovereignly  of  the  world;  and  he  ap- 
peared always  with  a  beard,  Apollo,  is  painted  like  a  young  man, 
and  wears  no  beard.  Bacchus  sometimes  has  one,  and  then  he  is 
called  Barbatus;  but  mosi  frequently  he  has  it  not.  Juno  appears 
with  an  air  becoming  the  consort  of  Jupiter,  and  the  queen  of  the 
Gods.  Minerva  has  a  masculine  beauty,  but  sweet,  such  as  is 
befitting  the  wisest  and  chasest  of  Goddesses.  Venus,  on  the 
contrary,  exhibits  I  know  not  what  softness  and  effeminacy,  which 
speaks  forth  the  mother  of  love.  Mars  has  a  warlike  mein;  Ncp- 
tune  has  a  stern  awful  look. — They,  generally,  wore  upon  their 
Statues  the  symbols  consecrated  to  them.  Thus  Jupiter  appears 
with  his  thunder;  Apollo  with  his  lyre;  Neptune  with  his  trident; 
Pluto  with  his  bidented  sceptre;  Bacchus  holds  in  his  hand 
clusters  of  grapes;  Ceres  has  ears  of  corn;  Hercules  his  club;  and 
Diana  her  arrows  and  quiver:  The  dog  appears  in  the  statues  of 
Mercury;  the  owl  in  those  of  Minerva;  and  the  serpent  wreathed 


132  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

ITS   ALTARS.  SEC.  II. 

about  a  pillar  in  those  of  Esculapius»  The  chariot  of  Neptune  is 
drawn  by  sea-horses;  that  of  Venus  by  doves;  that  of  Juno  by 
peacocks;  and  that  of  Cybele  by  lions.  Sometimes  those  symbols 
are  single,  sometimes  multiplied;  and  when  it  appears  that  they 
are  proper  to  several  Gods,  the  statues  that  bear  them  get  the 
name  of  Pantheons',  such  as  are  for  the  most  part  those  of  Har- 
pocrates,  and  some  others.  The  Egyptian  Statues  were  more 
charged  with  symbols  than  those  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  as 
may  be  seen  in  the  antiquaries.  The  symbols  were  taken  either 
from  trees  or  plants,  or  such  animals  as,  for  some  particular  rea- 
sons, were  dearer  to  the  Gods  than  others,  as  shall  be  shewn  in 
speaking  of  the  sacrifices,  offerings,  and  victims,  which  were 
commonly  taken  from  things  wherein  they  were  thought  to  take 
delight.  The  reasons  of  this  preference  given  by  the  Gods  were 
sometimes  mysterious,  and  the  ancients  durst  not  reveal  them; 
but  then  it  is  frequently  an  easy  matter  to  see  through  them. 
Thus,  to  give  but  a  few  examples,  the  laurel  was  beloved  by 
Apollo,  for  the  sake  of  Daphne;  the  pine  by  Cybele,  u  on  account 
of  jitys;  and  the  poplar  by  Hercules,  because  he  had  brought  one 
from  the  country  of  the  Hyperboreans,  &c. — For  the  most  part, 
the  Statues  of  the  Gods  were  simple,  and  presented  but  a  single 
figure;  sometimes  they  were  grouped,  and  contained  several 
figures  together. 


SECTION  SECOND. 

ITS  JLTARfi. 


Without  insisting  npon  the  etymology  of  the 


Jtltar. 


The    Efr  Tiol- 
of  tin   w   -d    ''•'  tf  -irare,  a  name  which  we  commonly  reck- 

lave  been  given  to  AltaYs,  because  they 
are  high  built,  we  say  with  SEKVIUS,  that  the 
nade  some  distinction  be!  •  .and'^rc,-  for  .••'.. 


CHAP.  II-  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY. 


133 


ITS    ALTARS. 


though  the  last  was  equally  used  either  in  speaking  of  the  celes- 
tial or  infernal  Gods,  yet  the  word  Mare  was  peculiarly  set 
apart  to  denote  the  Altars  of  the  former.  This  was  SERVIUS'S 
distinction,  though  some  authors  acid  another,  and  say,  that  to  the 
celestial  Gods,  sacrifices  were  offered  upon  Altars;  to  the  terres- 
trial Gods,  upon  the  earth  itself;  and  to  the  infernal  God*,  in  holes; 
F.  BERTHOLD  subjoins,  that  to  the  nymphs,  victims  were  offered 
in  dens  and  caverns. 
=====  The  antiquity  of  Altars  is  not  to  be  called 

The  antiquity,     .      quesiion:      No    doubt    it    was    prior    to    the 
matter  and  form 
of  Altars;  building  of  temples,  not  only  among  tli 

'•  triarchs,  but  among  the    Pagans    too.      And  as 

the  superstitious  Pagan  worship  commenced  in  Egypt,  this  is 
probably  the  country  where  the  fii  st  Altars  were  erected.  Ac- 
cordingly,  this  is  the  opinion  of  HERODOTUS,  and  of  CJEMUS 
RHODIOINUS,  who  has  copied  him.  Simplicity  having  always 
been  a  concomitant  of  usages  newly  invented,  it  is  plain  that  the 
first  Altars  were  nothing  but  simple  heaps  of  ea"rth  or  turf,  which 
were  called  Ar*  cesfntiti*,  or  gramint*;  or  of  rough  stone*,  &c.; 
and  idolaters  at  first  imitated  the  simple  manner  of  rhising  Altars, 
which  was  used  by  NOAH  and  the  other  primitive  Patriarchs; 
but  in  later  times,  Altars  came  to  be  .quite  changed,  both  in  m 
ter  and/orm.  Accordingly,  Paganism  had  of  them  these  several 
forms;  square,  oblong,  round,  and  triangular;  and  of  different  ma- 
terials,  as  stone,  marble,  brats,  and  gold  itself,  at  least  HERODO- 
TUS says  so  of  the  table  that  was  used  as  an  Altar  in  the  temple 
tfBelus,  at  Babylon.  PAUSANIAS  observes,  that  some  of  them 
were  of  wood,  but  that  it  was  rare  to  find  any  of  that  sort.  That 
ofJufiiter  Olymfiius  was  nothing  but  a  heap  of  ashes;  others  were 
but  a  mere  collection  of  /lorn*  of  different  animals.  EUSTATIUS 
who  mentions  such  an  Altar,  says  it  was  at.  Ephesus,  and  that 
jtfiollo  had  built  it  of  the  bulls'  horns  which  Diana  had  killed  in 
1 


134  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  H. 

ITS    SACRED    GROVES.  SEC.  III. 

hunting.     MOSES,  speaking  of  the  horns  of  the  Altars,  means 

thereby  nothing  but  the  corners  of  the  Altars. 

-    •  -         Altars  were  no  less  distinguished  in  their 

eiSht*  than   b?  thdr  matter  and  form 


they  were  erect-    reached  no  higher  than  to  the  knee,  others  came 
ed. 

•  up  to  the  waist;  some  were  yet  higher,  espe- 
cially those  of  Jupiter,  and  the  other  celestial  Gods;  while  those 
of  Vesta,  and  the  other  terrestrial  Deities,  were  the  lowest.  Among 
these  Altars,  some  were  solid,  others  were  hollow  at  the  top,  to 
receive  the  libations  and  blood  of  the  victims;  others,  in  fine,  were 
portable,  to  be  used  in  travelling,  and  upon  other  occasions. — 
Altars  were  not  all  in  temples;  there  were  some  of  them  in  the 
aacred  groves;  and  others  exposed  in  the  open  fields,  as  those  of 
the  Gods  Terminus,  Sylvanus,  Pan,  Vertumnus,  and  those  which 
Epimenides  caused  the  Athenians,  in  the  time  of  a  plague,  to  set 
up  in  places  where  the  victims,  left  to  their  own  liberty,  happen- 
ed to  stop:  These  last  are  the  same  that  ST.  PAUL  speaks  of, 
which  were  dedicated  to  unhnown  Gods.  But  it  was  still  more 
common  to  set  up  Altars  upon  the  mountains,  where,  frequently 
too,  they  had  sacved  groves;  and  this  custom  of  going  to  sacrifice 
upon  high  places,  was  so  ancient  and  universal,  that  the  scripture 
incessantly  reproaches  the  Israelites  with  it,  and  even  blames  the' 
better  kings  for  not  having  abolished  it. 

SECTION    THIRD. 
ITS  SACRED  GROVES. 


•-••••--  THE  institution  of  Sacred  Groves,  is  so  an- 
Antiquity     of 

Sacred  Groves cient,  that  it  is  even  thought  to  have  been  ante- 

thcir  universality  ce(]ent  to  lhat  of  Temples  and  Altars.     As  the 
— refuge  for  cri- 
minals, &c.;  Romans    called  these   Groves   Luci,   SERVIUS 

"  thinks  they  got  that  name,  because  they  kind- 
led fire  to  let  the  mysteries  be  seen  that  were  there  celebrated. 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  135 

SEC.  III.  ITS    SACRED    GROVES. 

The  original  name  Luci  or  Lucendo  apart,  whether  they  first 
chose  for  the  purpose  natural  woods,  with  which  every  place 
was  anciently  furnished;  or  planted  them  on  purpose,  as  was  done 
in  later  times;  they  were  always  the  thickest  groves  of  the  kind, 
places  dark  and  gloomy,  impenetrable  even  to  the  sun-beams. 
'It  \vas  in  these  dark  retreats,  apt  to  overcast  the  mind  with  I 
know  not  what  horror,  that  the  first  mysteries  of  Paganism  were 
celebrated.  Here  it  was  the  ancient  Druids  assembled,  who  got 
their  very  names  from  the  oaks  which  they  frequented. — It  ap- 
pears however,  to  have  been  the  opinion  of  the  ancients,  that 
these  Groves,  at  first  consecrated  to  Lucina,  who  was  the  same 
with  Diana  and  Hecate,  had  been  so  called  from  the  name  of  that 
Goddess.  Be  that  as  it  will,  the  use  of  sacred  Groves  for  the 
celebration  of  mysteries,  is  of  very  great  antiquity,  and  perhaps 
of  all  others  the  most  universal.  At  first,  there  were  in  these 
Groves  neither  Temples  nor  Altars:  they  were  simple  retreats, 
to  which  there  was  no  access  for  the  profane;  that  is,  such  as 
were  not  devoted  to  the  service  of  the  Gods.  Afterwards  they 
built  Chapels  and  Temples  in  them;  and  even  to  preserve  so  an- 
cient a  custom,  they  took  care,  whenever  it  was  in  their  power, 
to  plant  Groves  around  their  Temples  and  Altars,  to  inclose  them 
with  walls,  hedges,  and  ditches;  and  these  Groves  were  not  only 
consecrated  to  the  Gods,  in  honour  of  whom  the  Temples  in  the 
centres  of  them  had  been  built,  but  they  were  themselves  a  place 
of  sanctuary  for  criminals,  who  fled  thither  for  refuge. 
-  MOSES,  to  hinder  the  Hebrews,  too  prone  to 

interdicted  their  imitate  the  idolatrous  practices  of  the  people 
use,  by  MOSES;  about  them,  from  following  this  pernicious  cus- 
tom, forbids  them  to  plant  Grpves  about  the 
Altars  of  the  true  God.  Nay,  every  time  this  sacred  legislator 
commands  the  Jews  to  destroy  idols,  he  orders'them  at  the  same 
time  to  cut  down  the  hallowed  Groves.  The  same  orders  were 
renewed  to  Gideon;  and  the  prophets  always  speak  with  indigna- 


136  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP  II. 

ITS    SACRED    GROVES.  SEC.  III. 

tion  of  the  kings  of  Judah  and  Israel,  who  hud  a  custom  of  sacri- 
ficing in  the  consecrated  G;oves.  The  Jews  were  so  prone  to 
imitate  the  idolatrous  nations  in  this,  that  one  of  their  kings  car- 
ried l.is  in  piety  so  far  as  lo  plant  at  Jerusalem  one  of  these 
Groves,  which  Josiah  cut  down,  and  burned  in  the  valley  of  Ce- 
dron.  The  Rabbins  add,  that  the  Jews  were  not  permitted  to 
enter  these  Groves,  to  cut  a  tree  of  them  for  their  use,  to  rest 
under  their  shade,  to  eat  the  eggs  or  the  little  birds  that  nestled 
there,  nor  to  take  the  dead  wood;  nay,  nor  to  eat  the  bread  that 
had  been  baked  with  that  wood. 
"  The  sacred  Groves,  in  after  ages,  became  ex- 

they         became    lremeiy   frequented.     There,   assemblies  were 
greatly  frequent- 
ed, and   applied    held  on  holidays,  and  after  the  celebration  of  the 
to  religious    fes- 
tivity; mysteries,  they  kept  public  entertainments  there» 

•  accompanied  with  dancing,  and  all  other  demon- 

strations of  vigorous  mirth.  TIBULLUS  describes  these  festivals 
and  entertainments  with  a  good  deal  of  humour.  They  were  at 
the  pains  to  deck  these  Groves  with  flowers,  chaplets,  garlands, 
and  nosegays;  and  hang  them  about,  with  donations  and  offer- 
ings,  so  lavishly,  that  though  they  had  been  less  bushy  and  con- 
densed, they  would  have  been  quite  darkened  thereby,  shutting 
out  the  very  light  of  day. 

•'  To  cut  down  the  sacred  Groves,  or  to  waste 

to       fell      them 

was  the  ore  ate  st    them,  was  a  piece  ot  sacrilege,  and  perhaps  that 

sacrilege.  which  they  thought  the  most  unpardonable.  Lu- 

CAN,  speaking  of  the  trees  which  Caesar  caused 
to  be  felled  near  Marseilles,  to  make  warlike  engines  of  them, 
well  describes  the  consternation  of  the  soldiers,  who  refused  lobe 
instrumental  in  this  work,  till  that  great  general,  taking  an  ax, 
felled  one  of  them  himself.  "  Struck  with  a  religious  awe  for  the 
sanctity  of  the  Grove,  they  were  full  of  the  belief,  that  if  they 
presumptuously  attempted  to  cut  down  one  of  its  trees,  the  ax 
would  have  recoiled  upon  themselves." — It  was  lawful,  however, 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OP  IDOLATRY.  137 

SEC.  IV.  ITS    TEMPLES. 

to  prune  and  dress  them,  and  lo  cut  out  the  trees  which  they 
thought  attracted  the  thunder.  We  have  the  history  of  some  of 
these  sacred  Groves  handed  down  to  us  by  the  Ancients,  such  as 
those  of  Lucina.)  of  Feronic,  of  the  emperor  Augustus,  and  others: 
all  of  which  resembled  each  other,  and  were  held  in  equal  vene- 
ration. 

SECTION    FOURTH. 

ITS  TEMPLES. 

•  AS  the  Latins  used  a  variety  of  words  for  a 
terms  that^esTgli  TemPle'  as  Templum,  Fanum,  JEdes,  Sacrarium, 
a  Temple.  Delubrum,  &c.,  the  grammarians  and  commen- 

tators have  searched  into  the  etymology  of  each 
of  these  denominations;  but  when  all  is  well  examined,  it  appears 
'that  each  of  these  names  signified  a  place  consecrated  to  the  Gods, 
distinguished  from  one  another  more  by  their  size,  than  other  re- 
spects, though  very  good  authors  make  other  distinctions  between 
them.  We  shall  pass  over  those  distinctions,  with  observing  by 
the  way,  that  if  the  single  word  Temfilum  was  not  always  confined 
to  denote  a  building — since  the  Augurs  applied  it  to  the  plots  of 
ground  inclosed  with  fiallisadoes  or  ncts^  which  they  had  marked 
out  with  their  augural  staff,  in  order  to  take  the  auguries — why 
multiply  distinctions  between  terms,  of  which  either  most  pro- 
bably applied  to  whatever  places  were  consecrated  to  the  Gods, 
with  no  other  difference  perhaps  than  that  of  local  use. 

•  The  antiquity  of  Temples  is  as  unquestiona- 

of  Tempks— the  ble'  as  the  time  vvhen  they  began  to  be  used  is 
Tabernacle  prob-  uncertain.  As  it  was  in  Etypt  and  Phenicia 
ably  their  model. 

=====  that  idolatry  took  its  rise  shortly  afier  the  de- 
luge, these  are  the  two  countries  where  we  are  to  seek  for  the 
origin  of  whatever  concerns  the  worship  of  false  Gods,  and  the 
use  of  temples  which  they  introduced.  HEUODOTUS  and  LUCIAN 


138  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

ITS  TEMPLES.  SEC.  IV. 

expressly  tell  us  so  of  the  Egyptians — but  we  are  to  observe  at 
the  same  time,  that  the  system  of  that  false  religion  was  not 
established  all  at  once.  At  first,  the  Gods  were  honoured  after 
a  very  gross  manner — simple  altars  of  rough  stone  or  turf,  set  up 
in  open  fields,  were  all  the  apparatus  of  the  sacrifices  that  were 
offered  them.  Chapels,  that  is  to  say,  close  places,  and  at  last 
Temples,  were  introduced  in  later  times;  accordingly,  we  do  not 
find  that  the  Egyptians  had  any  Temples  in  the  time  of  MOSES, 
or  he  had  mentioned  them,  as  he  had  frequent  occasions  so  to  do. 
Thus,  I  am  confident  that  the  Tabernacle  he  made  in  the  desart, 
which  was  a  portable  Temple,  is  the  first  of  the  kind  that  was 
known,  and  perhaps  the  model  of  all  the  rest.  The  Tabernacle 
had  a  place  more  sacred  than  the  rest,  the  sancta  sanctorum,  an- 
swering to  the  more  sacred  and  holy  places  in  the  Pagan  Tem- 
ples, which  they  called  Adyta.  This  Temple,  exposed  to  the 
view  of  the  nations  bordering  upon  the  tract  through  which  the, 
Israelites  were  sojourning  forty  years,  might  give  occasion  to 
those  idolaters  to  build  others  like  it,  though  not  portable:  At 
least,  it  is  certain  they  had  of  them  before  the  building  of  the 
Temple  of  Jerusalem. — The  first  we  find  mention  of  in  Scrip- 
ture, is  that  of  Dagon,  the  God  of  the  Philistines:  But  all  circum- 
stances being  duly  considered,  we  must  conclude  that  the  custom 
of  erecting  Temples  in  honour  of  the  Gods,  was  derived  from 
Egypt  to  other  nations.  LUCIAN  says  it  was  propagated  trorn 
that  country  to  the  Assyrians,  under  which  name  he  doubtless 
comprehends  the  adjacent  countries  of  Phenicia,  Syria,  and  oth- 
ers. From  Egypt  and  Phenicia  it  passed  to  Greece  with  the  colo- 
nies, and  from  Greece  to  Rome — the  course  of  fables  and  idola- 
try. This  opinion  is  founded  upon  the  authority  of  HERODOTUS, 
and  all  the  evidence  that  antiquity  can  afford.  Deucalion  has  the 
glory  ascribed  to  him,  of  having  built  the  first  Temple  in  Greece. 
Janus  has  the  like  honour  ascribed  to  him  in  relation  to  Italy; 
though  others  will  have  it,  that  the  honour  of  building  the  first 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  139 

SEC.  IV.  ITS    TEMPLES. 

Temple  in  Italy  belongs  to  Faunus,  from  whom  was  derived  the 
name  of  Fanum,  which  with  the  Latins  signifies  a  Temple.  But 
these  enquiries  are  equally  frivolous  and  uncertain. 

1  The  small  chapels,  mostly  reared  up  by  pri- 

From      small 
chapels, Temples    vale  persons,  in  the  open  fields,  were  very  soon 

of^m^Snce  succeeded  by  regular  buildings,  and  at  last  by 
and  wonder  m  master-pieces  of  architecture.  We  may  see  in 
•  HERODOTUS  and  other  authors,  what  was  the 
magnificence  of  the  Temple  of  VULCAN  in  Egypt,  which  so 
many  kings  had  much  ado  to  finish:  a  prince  gained  no  small 
honour,  if  in  the  course  of  a  long  icign,  he  was  able  to  build  one 
portico  of  it.  In  PAUsAMAsyou  have  the  description  of  the  Tem- 
ple of  Jufiiter  Olijmpius,  which  I  shall  presently  mention.  That 
of  Delphos,  as  famous  for  its  Oracles,  as  for  the  immense  presents 
with  which  it  was  enriched,  deserves  also  to  be  known.  That  of 
Diana  at  Ephesus,  that  master-piece  of  art,  and  so  renowned,  that 
a  despicable  fool  thought  to  immortalize  his  name  by  burning  it, 
was  as  rich  as  magnificent.  The  Pantheon,  a  specimen  of  the 
magnificence  of  Agrippa,  Augustus'  son-in-law,  is  still  subsist- 
ing, and  is  dedicated  to  all  the  Saints,  as  it  was  formerly  to  all  the 
Gods.  In  fine,  the  Temple  of  Belus,  or  rather  that  grand  Tower, 
composed  of  eight  stories,  whereof  the  highest  contained  the 
statue  of  that  God,  with  other  things  of  which  HERODOTUS 
speaks,  as  it  was  the  most  ancient,  so  it  was  the  most  singular, 
and  the  most  magnificent. — These  are  the  most  stately  of  the 
Pagan  Temples,  whereof  the  memory  is  preserved  to  us  in  histo- 
ry. The  others  of  less  distinction  are  so  numerous  that  it  would 
require  several  volumes  to  describe  them,  nor  would  there  be 
any  utility  in  it.  In  Rome  alone,  there  are  reckoned  to  have  been 
upwards  of  a  thousand,  large  and  small  together.  The  antiqua- 
ries have  given  us  the  plan  and  elevation  of  some  of  those  Tem- 
ples, especially  MONTFAUCON,  who  may  be  consulted, 


140  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

ITS    TEMPLES.  SEC.  IV. 

The  temples  of  the  ancients  were  divided  into 

several  Parts   which  h  is  Pl'°Per  tO  distinguish» 
their   ornaments.    Jn  order  to  understand  the  descriptions  they  give 

of  them.  Theirs/  was  the  Porch  where  stood 
the  pool,  whence  the  priests  drew  the  holy-water  for  the  expia- 
tion of  such  as  were  to  enter  into  the  Temple;  the  second  was 
the  Na-ue,  or  middle  of  the  Temple;  the  third  was  the  holy  place 
called  Penetrate,  Sacrarium,  or  Adytum,  into  which  private  per- 
sons were  not  permitted  to  enter;  lastly,  the  back  Temple,  which 
division,  indeed,  was  not  in  every  one. — The  Temples  had  often 
jiorlicoes,  and  always  steps  of  ascent.  There  were  some  of  them 
with  galleries  carried  quite  around;  which  were  composed  of  a 
range  of  pillars  set  at  a  certain  distance  from  the  wall,  covered 
with  large  stones:  Temples  of  this  sort  were  called  Peri/iteres, 
that  is,  \\inged  all  around;  but  Temples  whose  galleries  had  t\vo 
ranges  of  pillars,  were  called  Dipteres;  and  Prostyles,  when  pil- 
lars formed  the  portico  without  a  gallery;  and  lastly,  Hyfiethres, 
when  they  had  two  rows  of  pillars  on  the  outside,  and  as  many  on 
the  inside,  the  middle  being  wholly  uncovered,  after  the  form  of 
a  cloyster. — The  inner  part  of  the  Temple  was  often  very  much 
adorned;  for,  besides  the  statues,  of  the  Gods,  which  were  some-  * 
times  oi' gold,  ivory,  ebony,  or  of  some  other  precious  materials, 
and  those  of  the  great  men  which  were  sometimes  very  nume- 
rous, it  was  ordinary  to  see  there  paintings,  gildings,  and  other 
embellishments,  among  which  we  must  not  forget  the  offerings 
of  the  ex  voto,  that  is  to  say,  prows  of  ships,  dedicated  upon  their 
being  saved  from  shipwreck,  by  the  assistance,  as  they  thought,  of 
some  God;  tablets,  or  fabellas,  for  the  cure  of  a  disease;  arms, 
colours,  tripods,  and  -votive  bucklers  won  from  an  enemy.  There 
were,  especially  in  the  Temple  at  Delphos,  and  in  several  Tem- 
ples at  Rome,  immense  riches  of  this  kind.  Besides  these  sorts 
of  ornaments,  they  were  not  wanting,  on  holidays,  to  deck  the  . 
Temples  with  branches  of  laurel,  oli-oe,  and  ?'r»/. 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  141 


ITS    TEMPLES. 


Among  the  Romans,  when  they  were  to  build 
a  TemPle»   the  Auruspices  were    employed  to 

Temple     among    choose  the  place  where,  and  time  when,  they 

the  Romans. 

••  should  begin  the  work.   This  place  was  purified 

with  great  care;  they  even  encircled  it  with  fillets  and  garlands. 
The  Vestals  accompanied  with  young  boys  and  girls,  washed  this 
spot  of  ground  with  water,  pure  and  clean,  and  the  priests  expi- 
ated it  by  a  solemn  sacrifice.  Then  he  touched  the  stone  that 
was  to  be  first  laid  in  the  foundation,  which  was  bound  with  a  fillet; 
when  the  people,  animated  by  enthusiastic  zeal,  threw  it  in  with 
some  pieces  of  money  or  metal  which  had  never  passed  through 
the  furnace.  When  the  edifice  was  finished,  there  was  also  a 
consecration  of  it,  with  grand  ceremonies,  wherein  the  priest,  or 
in  his  absence,  some  of  his  college  presided. — TACITUS,  speak- 
ing of  the  restoration  of  the  Capital,  has  transmitted  to  us  the 
forms  and  ceremonies  in  consecrating  the  ground  set  apart  for 
building  a  Temple. 

•  Of  those  Temples,  some  were  not  to  be  built 
The  places  pre- 
scribed for  some  Wlthm  the  precincts  ot  the  cities,  but  without 
Temples    to    be  their  wa]ls;  as  those  of  M         vuican  and  Venus, 
erected. 
=====  for  reasons   given   by    VITUUVIUS:    says    he, 

"  When  Temples  are  to  be  built  to  the  Gods,  especially  to  those 
of  them  who  are  patrons  of  the  City,  if  it  be  to  Jupiter,  Juno,  or 
Minerva,  they  must  be  set  on  places  of  the  greatest  eminence, 
Avhence  one  may  have  a  view  of  the  bulk  of  the  Town-walls.  If 
it  is  to  Mercury,  they  must  be  set  in  the  forum  or  Market-place, 
as  the  Egyptians  observed  in  those  of  Isisvnd.Serafizs.  Those  of 
Apollo  and  Bacchus  must  be  near  the  Theatre.  Those  of  Hercules, 
when  there  is  neither  Gymnasium  nor  Amphitheatre,  should  be 
placed  near  the  Circus.  Those  of  Mars  wjkhout  the  City,  in  the 
fields;  and  those  of  Venus  at  the  City-Gates.  We  find  in  the 
writings  of  the  Tuscan  Soothsayers,"  continues  he,  "  that  they 
S 


142  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

ITS    TEMPLKS.  SEC.  IV. 

had  a  custom  of  placing  the  Temples  of  Venus,  of  Vulcan,  and  of 
Mars,  without  the  walls,  lest,  if  Venus  were  in  the  city  itself,  it 
might  be  a  means  of  debauching  the  young  virgins  and  the  ma- 
trons too:  as,  in  regard  to  Vulcan,  his  was  placed  without,  that 
houses  might  not  be  in  danger  of  taking  fire:  and  as  to  Mars, 
while  he  is  without  the  walls,  there  will  be  no  dissentions  among 
the  people;  nay  more,  he  will  be  in  the  place  of  a  rampart,  to  se- 
cure the  walls  of  the  city  from  the  hazards  of  war.  The  Temples 
of  Ceres  were  likewise  without  the  cities,  in  places  not  much  fre- 
quented, lest,  when  offering  sacrifices  to  her,  their  purity  might 
be  defiled."  These  distinctions  however,  were  not  always  strictly 
observed. 

1  The  Idolaters  had  all  possible  veneration  for 

ofTtheVIdokte°rs    their  Temples.    If  we  may  believe  ARRIAN,  it 

for    their    Tern-    -was  even  forbid  to  blow  one's  nose,  or  spit  there; 

pies. 

'  and  DION  adds,  that  sometimes  they  clambered 

up  to  them  on  their  knees.  In  times  of  public  calamity,  the  wo- 
men prostrated  themselves  in  these  sacred  places,  and  swept  the 
pavements  with  their  hair.  Sometimes,  however,  when  public 
disasters  obstinately  continued,  the  people  lost  all  due  reverence 
for  the  Temples,  and  became  so  outrageous,  as  to  fall  a  pelting 
the  walls  with  stones;  an  instance  whereof  we  find  in  SUETONIUS. 
We  shall  presently  derive  a  further  idea  of  their  veneration  for 
their  Temples,  consecrated  Groves,  Altars,  &c.,  when  we  speak 
of  them  as  Asyla,  or  Sanctuaries  for  criminals,  debtors,  &c.— 
Though  commonly  both  men  and  women  entered  into  the  Tem- 
ples, yet  there  were  some  into  which  men  were  forbid  to  enter; 
for  instance,  that  of  Diana  at  Rome,  in  the  street  called  the  Vicits 
Patriciiis,  as  we  learn  from  PLUTARCH,  although  they  might  enter 
into  the  other  Temples  of  that  Goddess.  The  reason  of  this  pro- 
hibition is  thought  to  have  been,  that  a  woman,  as  she  was  pray- 
ing in  that  Temple,  had  received  a  most  cruel  insult. — We  will 
subjoin  to  this  general  account  of  Temples,  a  particular  descrip- 


CHAP.  IT.  MACHINERY  OP  IDOLATRY.  143 

SEC.  IV.  ITS    TEMPLES. 

tion  of  some  of  the  most  famous;  from  which  we  may  judge  to 
•what  pitch  of  profusion  and  magnificence  the  Ancients  were 
carried  by  their  idolatrous  zeal. 

1st,   The   Temple  of  JBelits. 

•  ••        As  this  Temple  was  the  most  ancient  in  the 
This   Temple     _ 

was  originally  the  Pagan  world>  so  was  lts  structure  the  most  cu- 
Tower  of  Babel  rious.  BEROSUS,  as  JOSEPHUS  relates,  ascribes 
—its  plan,  &c. 

1  the  building  of  it  to  Belus,  who  was  himself  wor- 

shipped there  after  his  death.  But  certain  it  is,  his  design  was 
not  to  build  a  Temple,  but  to  erect  a  Tower,  in  order  to  shelter 
himself  and  his  people  from  inundations,  if  such  a  one  as  the 
deluge  should  again  happen.  We  know  in  what  manner  God  put 
a  stop  to  that  mad  design.  The  work  continued  in  the  same  state 
it  was  in  at  the  confusion  of  tongues,  and  was  afterwards  set  apart 
for  a  Temple  of  Belus,  who  was  deified  after  his  death.  This 
famous  Tower  commonly  called  the  Tower  of  Babel,  formed  a 
square  in  its  base,  of  which  each  side  contained  a  stadium  in 
length,  making  a  half  mile  in  circumference.  The  whole  work 
consisted  of  eight  Towers  raised  the  one  upon  the  other,  which 
diminished  gradually  from  the  lowest  to  the  uppermost.  Some 
authors,  as  PRIDEAUX  remarks,  being  misled  by  the  latin  version 
of  HERODOTUS,  allege  that  each  of  these  Towers  was  a  furlong 
in  height,  which  would  make  the  whole  a  mile  high;  but  the 
Greek  text  says  no  such  thing,  nor  is  any  mention  made  of  the 
height  of  the  edifice.— We  learn  from  HERODOTUS  that  the  ac- 
cess to  the  top  of  this  building  was  by  a  winding  stair  on  the 
outside  of  it.  These  eight  Towers  composed,  as  it  were,  so  many 
stories,  each  of  which  was  seventy-five  feet  high.  In  each  of 
them  were  disposed  several  great  chambers  supported  by  pillars, 
and  other  lesser  ones,  where  people  might  rest  themselves  in 
going  up.  The  highest  or  uppermost,  was  the  most  richly  adorn- 
ed, and  was  that  for  which  the  people  had  the  greatest  venera- 
tion. In  this,  according  to  HERODOTUS,  there  was  no  statue,  but 


144  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I' 


ITS    TEMPLES.  SEC.  IV 

a  table  of  massy  gold,  and  a  stately  bed  that  no  one  was  allowed  to 
lie  in,  except  a  woman  of  the  city  whom  the  Priest  of  Bdus 
chose  every  day,  first  making  her  believe  that  she  would  be 
honoured  there  with  the  presence  of  the  God. 

-  Until  the  time  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  this  Tern- 

It  was    embel-  .... 

lished  by  Nebu-    P^e  contained  nothing  but  the  towers  and  cham- 

chadnezzar,  and  kers  :ust  mentioned;  which  were  so  many  pri- 
destroyed  by 

Xerxes.  vate  chapels.  But  that  monarch,  as  BEROSUS  re- 

lates, enlarged  it  by  edifices  which  he  built  all 
around  it;  and  encompassed  the  whole  with  a  wall,  having  brazen 
gates.  In  executing  this  work  he  employed  the  Sea  of  jBrassi 
and  other  utensils  of  which  he  had  rifled  the  Temple  of  Jerusa- 
lem. This  Temple  was  still  subsisting  in  the  time  of  Xerxes, 
who,  as  he  returned  from  his  unfortunate  expedition  against 
Greece,  ordered  it  to  be  demolished;  having  first  pillaged  it  of 
its  immense  riches,  among  which  were  statues  of  massy  gold. 
One  of  these  statues,  as  DIODORUS  SICULUS  has  it,  was  forty 
feel  high;  which  was  [probably  the  same  that  Nebuchadnezzar 
had  consecrated  in  the  plains  of  Dura.  The  Scripture  indeed, 
gives  this  Colossus  ninety  feet  in  height;  but  this  is  to  be  under- 
stood of  the  statue  and  pedestal  taken  both  together.  There  were 
likewise  in  the  Temple  several  Idols  of  solid  gold,  and  a  great 
number  of  sacred  vases  of  the  same  metal,  whose  aggregate 
weight,  according  to  the  same  author,  amounted  to  5030  talents! 
— how  wretched  and  needy  indeed,  must  have  been  the  condition 
of  the  subjects  of  these  splendid  monarchs,  who  could  bestow 
such  .boundless  profusion,  only  by  the  privation  of  those  who  la- 
boured to  produce  it  1 ! 

"2d,  Temple  of  Vulcan  at  Memfiliix;  with  other  Egyfitian  Temfiles. 
The  antiquity  The  EgyPtians>  according  to  HERODOTUS, 
of  the  Temple  were  the  first  people  in  the  world,  who  built 
whom  founded  Temples  in  honour  of  the  Gods.  The  Temple 
and  embellished.  of  Vukan,  at  Memphis,  and  some  others  of  other 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF    IDOLATRY.  145 

SEC.  IV.  ITS    TEMPLES. 

principal  cities,  deserve  a  particular  consideration  on  account 
of  their  antiquity — Although  we  have  not  any  very  full  de- 
scription of  the  temple  of  Vulcan,  we  may  judge,  from  what 
HEHODOTUS  says  of  it  in  several  parts  of  his  history,  that  it  must 
have  been  of  surpassing  magnificence.  First,  as  to  its  antiquity, 
that  seems  to  be  inevitable,  since  this  historian  tells  us  it  was 
built  by  MENES,  the  first  who  reigned  in  Egypt  after  the  Gods 
and  Demi-Gods.  Probably  it  was  not  that  prince  who  gave  all 
that  beauty  to  the  work  for  which  it  was  afterwards  so  much  ad- 
mired; although  HERODOTUS  says,  that  it  was  even  then  grand 
and  highly  celebrated,  since  the  primitive  building  spoke  nothing 
but  a  noble  simplicity.  But  the  successors  of  MENES  ambitiously 
vied  with  one  another  in  embellishing  the  work  of  the  founder  of 
their  monarchy,  as  we  are  going  to  mention,  particularly  with 
statues,  wherewith  the  interior  of  the  ancient  temples  of  Egypt, 
according  to  the  best  authorities,  were  not  adorned.  M.ERIS,  a 
powerful  prince,  and  extremely  opulent,  added  to  this  first  Tem- 
ple, the  stately  porch  that  was  on  the  north  side  of  it.  Rhamsini- 
tus,  Proteus'  successor,  raised  according  to  the  same  author, 
that  which  fronted  to  the  west,  and  placed  over  against  the  porch, 
two  Colossal  statues,  each  twenty-five  cubits,  that  is  thirty-seven 
or  eight  feet  in  height.  The  one,  which  the  Egyptians  worship- 
ped, was  called  summer,  because  it  faced  from  the  south;  the 
other,  for  which  they  had  no  regard,  they  called  winter,  because 
it  looked  from  the  north.  Finally,  Amasis  set  up  before  the 
same  Temple  an  inverted  statue,  seventy-five  feet  high,  and 
upon  this  Colossus,  which  served  as  a  foundation  or  pedestal,  he 
erected  two  other  statues,  each  twenty  feet  in  height,  and  of  the 
same  marble  with  the  former. .  In  the  meantime  the  inner  parts 
of  the  edifice,  so  far  from  inviting  the  admiration  of  those  who 
entered  into  it,  only  provoked  the  contempt  of  Cambyses,  who 
broke  out  with  an  immoderate  fit  of  laughter,  at  seeing  the  ima- 
ges of  Vulcan,  and  other  Gods,  like  pygmies;  which  in  truth  must 


146  MACHINERY  OP  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

ITS   TEMPLES.  SEC.  IV. 

have  made  a  very  ridiculous  contrast  with  the  colossuses  in  the 
porches  of  which  we  have  just  spoken. 

•        Egypt  had  many  other  very  rich  Temples, 
Temples^SyPwith    amongst  which  were,  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  at 

one  of  a  single     Thebes  or  Diospolis;  that  of  Andera  at   Her- 

stone. 

===^========    munthis;  that  of  Proteus  at  Memphis;  and  that 

of  Minerva  at  Sais,  which  as  HERODOTUS  tells  us,  Amasis  had 
taken  great  pains  to  embellish  with  a  Porch,  which  far  surpassed 
in  grandeur,  all  the  monuments  which  his  kingly  predecessors 
had  left.  He  also  added  to  it  statues  of  a  prodigious  size;  for  the 
Egyptians  were  greatly  devoted  to  colossal  figures,  not  to  say 
stones  that  were  hardly  to  be  measured  for  their  enormous  big- 
ness, which  came  chiefly  from  Elephantina,  a  town  at  the  dis- 
tance of  twenty  days  sail  from  Sais.— The  particularities  neces- 
sary to  be  entered  upon  in  order  to  give  a  tolerable  notion  of  so 
many  fine  works,  would  be  too  great  a  digression;  but  we  cannot 
forbear  to  take  notice  of  a  sort  of  Temple,  the  only  one  of  its 
kind,  that  Chapel  of  a  single  stone  which  the  same  Amasis  had 
caused  to  be  cut  out  of  the  quarries  in  Upper  Egypt,  and  to  be 
transported  with  incredible  labour  and  pains,  as  far  as  Sais,  where 
it  was  to  have  been  set  up  in  the  Temple  of  Minerva.  HERODO- 
TUS speaks  of  it  thus;  "  But  what  I  admire  more  than  all  the 
other  works  done  by  Amasis,  is  this — he  caused  to  be  brought 
from  Elephantina,  a  house  made  of  one  entire  stone,  which  2,000 
men,  all  of  them  pilots  and  sailors,  were  not  able  to  transport  in 
less  than  three  years.  The  front  of  this  house  was  twenty-one 
cubits  in  breadth,  by  eight  in  height;  and  within  the  walls,  five 
cubits  high  by  eight  in  length."  This  house  never  entered  the 
Temple  of  Minerva;  but  was  left  at  the  gate,  whether  Amasis 
was  provoked  to  see  the  architect,  who  conducted  it,  complain 
heavily  of  the  labour  this  work  had  cost  him,  or  because  one  of 
those  who  had  been  assisting  to  convey  it  along  the  Nile>  was 
crushed  to  death,  as  the  same  historian  relates. 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  147 

SEC.   IV.  ITS    TEMPLES. 

3d,  Three  Temples  of  Diana  at  Efihesus. 

==  DIONYSIUS  the  Geographer,  informs  us  that 

1st,   The   first  ,                                  ,.,                 _ 

Temple  of  Diana,  tne  most  ancient   Temple  of  Diana,  at  Ephesus 

by  whom  estab-  was  built  b     the  Amazons,  which  remarkably 
hshed,  and  what 

it  was.  declares  the  simplicity  of  the  first  ages;  since  it 

"~~~"  only  consisted  of  a  nich  hollowed  out  of  an  Elm, 
where  was  probably  the  statue  of  Diana.  That  of  which  I  am 
going  to  speak,  was  not  so  ancient;  but  how  magnificent  it  was, 
the  following  description  from  PLINY  will  show. 

1         The  celebrated  Temple  of  Diana  at  Ephesus 
2d,    The    se-  ,     .,    . 

cond,  the  famous    was  built  in  a  marshy  ground,  to  secure  it  from 

Ephesian     Tern-    earthquakes,  and  openings  of  the  earth,  which 

pie,    an   account 

of  it.  sometimes  happened  there;  and  that  the  foun- 

*  dation  of  such  a  weighty  building  might  stand 
solid  upon  this  soft  and  fenny  ground,  they  strewed  over  it  a 
quantity  of  beaten  coal,  and  laid  over  them  sheep  skins  with  their 
wool.  This  Temple  was  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  long, 
and  two  hundred  feet  wide.  The  hundred  and  twenty-seven  co- 
lumns which  supported  the  edifice  were  placed  there  by  so  many 
kings,  and  were  each  of  them  sixty  feet  high.  Of  these  pillars, 
there  were  thirty-six  beautifully  carved;  one  of  which  was  done 
by  the  famous  Scopas.  The  architect  who  carried  on  this  great 
'work  was  Chersiphron  or  Ctesiphon;  and  it  is  a  wonder  how  he 
could  place  architraves  of  so  prodigious  a  weight.  It  is  credible 
enough,  that  the  roof  of  the  Temple  was  made  of  cedar  planks, 
as  the  same  author  tells  us,  but  I  do  not  know  how  to  credit  what 
he  says  of  the  stairs  by  which  they  ascended  to  the  very  top,  as 
being  made  of  a  single  vine  stock.  Neither  Chersiphron,  nor  his 
son  Metagenes  finished  this  edifice  of  unrivalled  grandeur;  other' 
architects  wrought  at  it,  since,  according  to  PLINY,  all  Asia  con- 
spired for  two  hundred  and  twenty  years,  or  as  he  says  elsewhere, 
for  four  hundred  years,  to  adorn  and  embellish  it.  PINDAR  in 
one  of  his  Odes,  says,  it  was  built  by  the  Amazons,  when  they 


148  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  IT. 

ITS   TEMPLES.  SEC.  IV. 

were  going  to  make  war  upon  the  Athenians  and  Theseus;  but 
PAUSANIAS  assures  us  that  this  great  poet  was  ignorant  of  the  an- 
tiquity of  that  Temple,  since  those  very  Amazons  had  come  from 
the  banks  of  the  Thermodon,  to  sacrifice  to  Diana  of  the  Ephe- 
sians  in  her  Temple,  with  which   they   were   acquainted;    for, 
sometime  before,  being  defeated  by  Hercules,  and  antecedently  to 
him,  by  Bacchus,  they  had  fled  thither  for  refuge  as  into  a  sanc- 
tuary. The  riches  of  this  Temple  must  have  been  immense,  since 
so  many  kings  contributed  to  embellish  it;  and  since  nothing  in 
all  Asia  was  more  famous  than  this  fabric,  either  for  devotion  or 
the  infinite  concourse  of  people  attracted  to  Ephesus  by  it.    The 
account  given  by  ST.  PAUL,  of  the  sedition  kindled  by  the  Gold- 
smiths of  that  city,  who  earned  their  living  by  making  small  gold 
and  silver  statues  of  Diana,  shows  us  effectually  how  celebrated 
the  worship  of  that  Goddess  was.     This  Temple  was  burnt  by 
Erostratus,  for  a  pitiful  motive  that  every  body  knows. 
========         The  Temple  which  subsisted  in  PLINY'S  time, 

Fnhes'ian  Temple     nac^   ueen  raised  by  Cheiromocrates,  who  built 

was  but  little  in-    the  town  of  Alexandria,   and  proposed  to  cut 

ferior  to  the  last 

mentioned.  Mount  Atlas  into  a  statue  of  Alexander.     This 


last  Temple,  which  STRABO  had  seen,  was  little 
inferior  in  riches  and  beauty  to  the  former;  for  there  were  to  be 
seen  the  works  of  the  greatest  statuaries  in  Greece.  The  Altar 
was  almost  wholly  of  Praxiteles's  workmanship.  XENOPHON 
speaks  of  a  statue  of  massy  gold,  whereof  HERODOTUS,  who  had 
visited  this  temple,  says  nothing.  STRABO  assures  us  likewise, 
that  the  Ephesians,  in  gratitude,  had  erected  in  the  same  place 
a  statue  of  gold,  in  honour  of  Artemidorus.  VITRUVIUS  tells 
us,  that  this  temple,  of  the  Ionic  order,  was  dipteric,  that  is,  that 
there  went  quite  round  it  two  ranges  of  pillars,  in  form  of  a  dou- 
ble portico;  that  it  was  seventy-one  toises  in  length,  with  more 
than  thirty-six  in  breadth;  and  that  there  were  reckoned  in  it 
one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  pillars  of  sixty  feet  high. — This 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OP  IDOLATRY.  149 

SEC.  IV.  ITS   TEMPLEb. 

temple  was  one  of  the  most  celebrated  asylums,  which,  according 
to  the  author  last  quoted,  extended  to  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  feet  of  the  adjacent  ground.  Mithridates  had  confined  it  to 
the  space  of  a  bow-shot.  Marc  Antony  doubled  that  extent;  but 
Tiberius,  to  correct  the  abuses  that  were  occasioned  by  those 
sorts  of  privileges,  abolished  this  asylum. — Nothing  remains  at 
this  day  of  so  stately  a  fabric  but  some  ruins;  of  which  the  reader 
may  see  an  account  in  SPON'S  voyage. 

4>th,  Temple  of  Jupiter  Olympius. 

'  Greece  had  so  many  Temples,  Chapels,  and 

the  temple"  of    Altars,  that  they  occurred  every  where,  \vhether 
Jupiter    Olympi-    jn  cities    and  villages,    or  in    the  open   fields. 
•  To  be  convinced  of  this,  we  need  but  read  the 

Ancients,  especially  PAUSANIAS,  who  has  applied  himself  parti- 
cularly to  describe  them,  and  speaks  of  them  in  almost  every 
page  of  his  travels  through  Greece.  In  pursuance  of  my  design, 
I  shall  single  out  two  of  these  Temples,  that  of  Jupiter  Olymfiius, 
and  that  of  Apollo  at  Delphos  which  were  the  two  most  magnifi- 
cent.— The  former,  according  to  PAUSANIAS,  with  the  admirable 
statue  of  Jupiter  which  it  contained,  were  the  product  of  the 
spoils  which  the  Eleans  had  won  from  the  Pisans  and  their  Allies, 
when  they  sacked  the  city  of  Pisa.  This  Temple,  whereof  LIBO, 
a  native  of  the  country,  was  the  architect,  was  of  the  Doric  order, 
and  surrounded  with  columns,  insomuch  that  the  place  where  it 
was  built,  formed  a  stately  peristyle.  In  this  fabric  they  made  use 
of  the  stones  of  the  country,  which  however,  were  of  a  singular 
nature,  and  exquisitely  beautiful.  The  height  of  the  Temple, 
from  the  area  to  the  roof,  was  sixty-eight  feet,  its  breadth  ninety- 
five,  and  its  length  two  hundred  and  thirty.  The  roof  was  not  of 
tiles,  but  of  a  fine  pentelic  marble,  cut  in  the  form  of  tiles.  From 
the  middle  of  the  roof  hung  a  gilded  victory,  and  under  this  sta- 
tue, a  golden  shield^  on  which  was  represented  Medusa's  headi 
T 


150  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  Jl. 

ITS    TEMPLES.  SEC.  IV. 

and  at  each  extremity  of  the  same  roof  hung  two  golden  kettles. 
On  the  outside,  above  the  columns,  a  rope  bound  around  the 
Temple,  to  which  were  fastened  twenty-one  gilt  bucklers,  conse- 
crated to  Jufiiter  by  Mummius,  after  the  sacking  of  Corinth. 
Upon  the  pediment,  in  the  front,  was  represented  with  exquisite 
art,  the  Chariot-race  between  Pelops  and  Oenomaus,  with  Jupiter 
in  the  middle.  Oenomaus  and  his  wife  Sterope,  one  of  the  daugh- 
ters of  Atlas,  the  chariot  with  four  horses,  and  Myrtilus  the  cha- 
rioteer of  Oenomaus  were  on  the  right  hand  of  the  God;  Pelops 
with  Hippodamia,  and  his  charioteer  with  his  horses,  were  on 
the  left.  All  these  figures  were  done  by  Pseonius,  a  native  of 
Thrace.  The  back  pediment,  the  work  of  Alcamenes,  the  best 
statuary  in  his  time  next  to  Phidia,  represented  the  battle  of  the 
Centaurs  with  the  Lafiithx,  at  the  marriage  of  Pirithous.  A  num- 
ber of  the  labours  of  Hercules  were  represented  upon  the  inside 
of  the  fabric;  and  upon  the  Gates,  which  were  all  of  brass,  were 
to  be  seen,  among  other  things,  the  hunting  of  the  boar  of  Ery~ 
manthus,  together  with  the  exploits  of  the  same  Hercules  against 
Diomcdes)  king  of  Thrace,  Gcryon,  &c.  In  fine,  to  pass  over  ma- 
ny important  particulars  which  it  would  be  tedious  to  mention, 
there  were  two  ranges  of  columns  supporting  two  Galleries  rais- 
ed exceedingly  high,  under  which  passed  the  way  that  led  to 
Jujiiter's  throne. 

•      ••  •  •  This  THRONE  and  the  STATUE  of  the  God 

The  Statue  and 
Throne    it    con-    were  Phidias   master-piece,  than  which  antiqui- 

tained  of  that  ty  produced  nothing  more  magnificent  or  more 
.•  highly  finished.  The  STATUE,  of  an  immense 
height,  was  of  gold  and  ivory  so  artfully  blended,  that  it  could  not 
be  beheld  but  with  astonishment.  The  God  wore  upon  his  head 
a  Crown  which  resembled  the  olive  leaf  to  perfection;  in  his  right 
hand  he  held  a  Victory  likewise  of  Gold  and  Ivory;  and  in  his  left 
a  Sceptre  of  exquisite  taste,  refulgent  with  all  sorts  of  metals, 
and  supporting  an  Eagle.  The  Shoe*  and  the  Mantle  of  the  God 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  151 

SEC.  IV.  ITS    TEMPLES. 

were  of  gold;  and  upon  the  latter  were  all  sorts  of  animals  and 
flowers  engraved.  The  THRONE  was  all  sparkling  with  gold  and 
precious  stones.  The  ivory  and  ebony,  the  animals  there  repre- 
sented, and  several  other  ornaments  by  their  assemblage  formed 
a  delightful  variety.  At  the  four  corners  of  the  THRONE  were  as 
many  Victories  who  seemed  to  be  joining  hands  for  a  dance,  be- 
sides two  others  which  were  at  Jupiter's  feet.  The  foot  of  the 
THRONE,  on  the  front  part,  was  adorned  with  Sphinxes,  who 
were  plucking  the  tender  infants  from  the  bosoms  of  the  Theban 
Mothers;  while  underneath  were  to  be  seen  Apollo  and  Diana 
wounding  Niobe's  children  to  death  with  their  arrows.  Four  cross- 
bars that  were  at  the  foot  of  the  THRONE,  and  passed  from  one 
end  to  the  other,  were  adorned  with  a  great  number  of  figures 
extremely  beautiful;  upon  one  were  represented  seven  conquer- 
ors at  the  Olympic  Games;  upon  another  appeared  Hercules, 
ready  to  engage  with  the  Amazons,  the  number  of  combatants  on 
either  side  being  twenty-nine.  Besides  ihcfect  of  the  THROVE, 
there  were  likewise  pillars  to  support  it.  In  fine,  a  great  ballus- 
trade  painted  and  adorned  with  figures,  railed  in  the  whole  work. 
— Panaeus,  an  able  painter  of  that  time,  had  represented  there, 
with  inimitable  art,  Atlas  bearing  the  heavens  upon  his  shoulders, 
and  Hercules  in  the  attitude  of  stooping  to  relieve  him  from  his 
load;  Theseus  and  Pirithous;  the  combat  of  Hercules  with  the 
Nemean  Lion;  Ajax  offering  violence  to  Cassandra;  Hippodamia 
with  her  mother;  Prometheus  in  chains;  and  numberless  other 
subjects  of  fabulous  history.  In  the  most  elevated  part  of  the 
THRONE,  above  the  head  of  the  God,  were  the  Graces  and  Hours, 
of  each  three  in  number. — The  Pedestal  which  supported  this 
pile  was  equally  adorned  with  the  rest:  there,  Phidias  had  en- 
graved upon  Gold,  on  the  one  side,  the  Sun  guiding  his  Chariot; 
and  on  the  other,  Jupiter  and  Juno,  the  Graces,  Mercury,  and 
Vesta:  there  Venus  appeared  rising  out  aof  the  sea,  and  Cupid 
receiving  her,  while  Pitho,  or  the  Goddess  of  persuasion  was 


152  MACHINEHV"  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 


ITS    TEMPLES. 


presenting  her  with  a  crown:  there  also  appeared  Apollo  and 
Diana,  Minerva  and  Hercules:  At  the  bottom  of  the  Pedestal 
might  be  seen  Amphitrite  and  Neptune;  and  Diana  mounted  on 
horseback:  in  fine,  a  woollen  -veil,  of  purple  dye,  and  magnificent- 
ly embroidered;  the  present  of  Antiochus,  hung  from  top,  to  bot- 
tom.— I  say  nothing  of  the  other  ornaments  of  this  noble  Struc- 
ture^ nor  of  the  pavement  which  was  of  the  finest  marble;  nor  of 
the  presents  consecrated  to  the  Gods  by  several  princes;  nor  of 
the  prodigious  number  of  statues  that  were  in  the  Temple,  as 
well  as  in  the  neighbourhood  of  it:  for  all  these  PAUSANIAS  may 
be  consulted.  I  only  add,  that  in  order  to  judge  of  the  greatness 
of  Jupiter's  Statue,  about  which  the  ancients  are  not  agreed,  it  is 
sufficient  to  observe,  that  the  THRONE  and  STATUE  reached  from 
the  pavement  to  the  roof,  whose  elevation  is  marked  above.  It 
will  readily  be  granted,  that  a  work  of  such  a  nature — of  so  pro- 
digious an  extent;  of  so  considerable  a  height;  where  gold  blended 
with  ebony  and  ivory,  casting  a  dazzling  splendour;  where  so  ma- 
ny  figures,  bas-reliefs,  and  painting  were  to  be  seen;  the  whole 
done  by  the  greatest  masters — would  not  fail  to  produce  a  very 
sublime  effect  upon  those  who  entered  into  the  Temple. — We 
must  not  forget  that  this  Edifice  was  of  the  Doric  Order,  the 
most  ancient  of  all  the  Orders  in  Architecture,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  most  suitable  for  works  of  grandeur. 

5th,   Temple  of  Apollo  at  Delphos. 

•  If  the  Temple  of  Apollo  at  Delphos  was  not 

This    Temple  .„  T  , 

was    built     five    so  magnificent  in  structure  as  that  I  have  just 

times       an    ac-    described,  it  was  a  great  deal  richer  in  the  im- 

count  of  each. 

==========;    mense  presents  which  were  sent  to  it  from  all 

quarters:  I  say  richer,  if  indeed  it  be  possible  to  estimate  Jupiter's 
statue,  the  master-piece  of  Phidias,  just  described. — At  first  the 
Temple  of  Delphos  was  of  very  little  consideration.  A  Cavern, 
whence  issued  certain  exhalations  which  infused  vivacity  and  a 
sort  of  enthusiasm  into  those  who  approached  it,  having  impress- 


CHAP.  O.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY. 


ITS    TEMPLES. 


ed  people  with  a  belief  that  there  was  in  it  something  divine,  an 
Oracle  was  founded  there,  as  I  shall  explain  at  a  greater  length  in 
speaking  on  the  subject  of  Oracles.     The  concourse  which  this 
pretended  miracle  drew,  obliged  the  neighbouring  inhabitants  to 
consecrate  the  place;  and  the  first  temple  they  built  there  was  a 
sort  of  chapel,  or  rather  a  hut  made  of  laurel  boughs. — The  second 
Temple,  they  gave  out,  adds    PAUSANIAS,  was  raised  by  Bees, 
and  made  of  wax;  and  that  Apollo  sent  it  to  the  Hyperboreans.  . 
This  is  evidently  a  fable  which  will  be  explained  when  speaking 
of  Oracles. — The  third  Temple  of  Delphos  was  built  of  brass. 
This   need  not  seem  very  surprising,  since  Acrisius,  king  of 
Argos,  caused  an  apartment  to  be  made  of  brass,  to  shut  up  in  it 
his  daughter  Danae;   in  the  time  of  PAUSANIAS,  there  was  ex- 
tant, at  Sparta,  the  Temple  of  Minerva  Chalcixcos.  so  called  be- 
cause it  was  wholly  of  brass:  but  that  it  was  built  by  Vulcan,  is  what 
PAUSANIAS  says  he  does  not  believe;  nor  that  there  Were  upon 
the  ceiling,  Golden  Virgins  who  sung  charmingly,  as  PINDAR  re- 
presented, in  imitation,  no  doubt,  of  the  Sirens  in  HOMER.     The 
Ancients  were  not  agreed  about  the  manner  in  which  this  Tem- 
ple was  destroyed:  some  said  the  earth  had  opened  and  swallowed 
it  up;  others,  that  it  had  taken  fire  and  the  brass  whereof  it  was 
chiefly  made,  melted  down. — Be  that  as  it  will,  the  Temple  was 
built  a  fourth  time,  when  its  materials  were  of  Stone,  and  its  arch- 
itects were  Agamedes  and  Trophonius.  This  edifice  was  burnt  to 
the  ground,  on  the  first  year  of  the  fifty-eighth  Olympiad.  Ajfiftk 
Temple,  in  fine,  was  erected  by  the  direction  of  the  Amphicty- 
ones,  with  the  money  which  the  people  had  consecrated  for  that 
use.  This  temple  was  subsisting  in  the  time  of  PAUSANIAS,  and 
greatly  excelled  the  preceding,  in  grandeur  and  riches;  for,  al- 
though we  have  not  a  particular  description  of  this  Temple,  it  is 
easy  to  judge  of  its  extent,  and  of  the  immense  riches  it  contained, 
from  that  concern  which  so  many  princes,  and  whole  nations  took 


154    -  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

ITS  TEMPLES.  SEC.  IV. 

in  sending  presents  to  it.  Few  came  to  consult  the  Oracle  of 
Afrollo,  without  bringing  some  offering  to  the  God;  and  who  were 
there  but  either  came  or  sent  to  it!!  Of  these  offerings  there  must 
have  been  uncountable  numbers,  whether  of  one  kind  or  of  every 
variety;  since,  although  the  Temple  had  been  pillaged  several 
times,  Nero  carried  off  from  it  Ji-ve  hundred  statues  of  brass, 
chiefly  of  Gods,  and  partly  of  illustrious  men. 
6th,  The  Pantheon  at  Rome, 

Rome   and   Italy  in  general,  abounded  with 

pam\eeoneis°f  un*     Temples  as  much  as  Greece.    They  were  to  be 

certain;— it     yet     met  with  every  where;   and  several  of  them  re- 
subsists    in    All 
Saints.  markable  either  for  their  singularity  or  tnagnifi- 

1  cence.     Among  the   most  elegant,    we  are   to 

reckon  that  of  Jupiter  Cafiitolinus,  and  that  of  Peace;  which,  ac- 
cording to  PLINY,  were  two  of  the  finest  ornaments  of  Rome.  But 
as  none  of  them  were  more  noble,  nor  more  solidly  built  than  the 
great  Pantheon,  commonly  called  the  Rotunda,  and  since  it  sub- 
sists at  this  day  entire,  under  the  name  of  All  Saints,  to  whom  it 
is  consecrated,  as  in  Paganism,  it  was  to  all  the  Gods;  I  choose  to 
give  the  description  of  it  in  preference  to  others.  The  draught  of 
it  maybe  seen  in  the  second  volume  of  MONTFAUCON'S  Antiqui- 
ties, who  has  taken  the  plan  of  it  from  SERLIO,  and  the  profile 
from  LAFRERI.  The  most  common  opinion  is,  that  it  was  built 
by  the  direction,  and  at  the  expense  of  Agi  ippa,  Augustus'  son-in- 
law;  though  there  are  authors  who  maintain,  that  it  was  before 
his  time,  and  that  he  only  repaired  it,  and  made  an  addition  to  it 
of  that  fine  Portico,  which  is  there  still  to  be  seen.  Be  that  as  it 
will,  that  grand  fabric,  which  receives  light  only  from  a  hole  in 
the  middle  of  the  dome,  so  ingeniously  contrived,  that  the  whole 
is  sufficiently  lighted  by  it,  is  of  a  round  figure,  the  architect,  it 
seems,  designing  to  imitate  the  figure  of  the  world,  as  is  to  be  re- 
marked of  a  great  number  of  other  Temples  of  the  earliest  anti- 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  155 

SEC.   IV.  ITS    TEMPLES. 

quity.  The  Portico,  the  work  of  Agrippa,  more  beautiful  and 
more  surprising  than  the  Temple  itself,  is  composed  of  sixteen 
columns  of  granite  marble,  each  of  one  entire  stone.  These  co- 
lumns are  five  feet  in  diameter,  and  above  seven  and  thirty  feet  in 
height,  without  including  the  bass  and  capital.  Of  these  sixteen 
columns,  there  are  eight  in  front,  and  as  many  behind  them,  all  of 
the  Corinthian  order.  As  in  the  time  of  Pope  Eugenius,  there  was 
found  near  this  edifice,  a  part  of  Agrippa's  head  in  brass,  a  /torse's 
foot,  and  a  piece  oTa  ivhrel  of  the  same  metal;  it  would  seem  that 
this  great  man  had  himself  been  represented  in  brass  upon  this 
Portico,  riding  in  a  chariot  \\i\\\  four  horses. 
'  When  I  say  that  this  Temple  is  subsisting  en- 

tion  and8  its'orna-    ^re  at  tn's  ^ay'  *  wou^  be  understood  to  mean 
ments-  the  body  of  the  work,  raised  on  such  solid  foun- 

dations, that  nothing  has  been  able  to  affect  it. 
And  no  wonder;  for,  according  to  a  Roman  architect,  these  foun- 
dations were  a  mass  not  only  extending  itself  under  the  whole 
edifice,  but  also  a  great  way  beyond  its  walls.  As  for  the  magni- 
ficent works,  the  statues,  and  other  firecious  things,  of  which  it  was 
full,  these  are  all  gone  to  wreck.  The  plates  of  gilt  brass,  that 
covered  the  whole  roof,  were  carried  off  by  the  emperor  Constan- 
tius  III.  Pope  Urban  made  free  with  the  beams  of  the  same  metal, 
to  form  the  canopy  of  St.  Peters,  and  the  great  pieces  of  artillery, 
which  are  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angela.  The,statues  of  the  Gods 
which  were  in  the  niches  still  to  be  seen  within  the  Temple, 
have  either  been  pillaged,  or  buried  under  ground;  nor  is  it  very 
long  ago,  since  in  digging  near  this  edifice,  they  found  first  a  lion 
of  basalt,  which  is  a  fine  Egyptian  marble,  and  then  another,  which 
served  for  ornaments  to  the  fountain  of  Sextus  V.,  not  to  mention 
a  large  beautiful  -vase  otfiorfihyry,  that  was  placed  by  the  Portico. 
nl  general,  this  edifice 'was  exceedingly  magnificent,  perfectly 
well  built,  in  just  proportions,  and  it  still  makes  one  of  the  fairest 
ornaments  of  Rome. 


156  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

ITS    TEMPLES.  SEC.  IV. 

7th,  Of  the  nature  of  Sanctuaries,  or  Asyla. 

The   Altars,  Sacred  Groves,  and   Temples, 


ri  ^ht^of  As  Iwn  navmg  been  places  of  refuge  for  criminals  among 
or  Sanctuary.  tne  Pagans,  we  must  explain  wherein  this  right 
~  of  Asylum  consisted;  what  were  the  privileges 
belonging  to  it;  and  whence  the  origin  of  the  custom  was  derived. 
From  the  time  that  men  began  to  devote  places  to  the  worship  of 
the  Gods,  there  to  acknowledge  them  in  an  authentic  manner  as 
their  lords,  and  the  sovereign  disposers  of  their  destinies,  and  to 
conceive  hopes  of  being  aided  by  them,  they  believed  them  to  be 
there  present  in  a  peculiar  manner;  and  hence,  that  they  might 
not  seem  inexorable  towards  others,  while  they  were  supplicating 
the  Gods  to  be  propitious  to  themselves,  it  is  highly  credible  that 
they  looked  upon  those  sacred  places,  whither  the  guilty  had  re- 
paired, perhaps  fortuitously  at  first,  though  afterwards  by  design, 
as  sanctuaries  inviolable.  The  Tabernacle  and  the  Temple  of 
Jerusalem  were  places  of  refuge,  and  doubtless  the  first  Altars 
raised  by  the  Patriarchs  were  so  too,  since  MOSES  excludes  mur- 
derers, who  fled  for  refuge  to  those  he  himself  setup.  The  cities 
of  refuge  appointed  by  MOSES  and  JOSHUA,  were  likewise  Asyla. 
Paganism,  which  imitated  many  of  the  customs  of  God's  people, 
from  them,  no  doubt,  had  likewise  taken  this  of  appropriating 
Asijla;  thus,  could  we  know  the  date  of  the  foundation  of  their  first 
Temple  and  Altars, -this  would  lead  us  to  the  original  of  this  pri- 
vilege. We  can  only  affirm,  that  it  is  very  ancient,  without  being 
able  to  determine  the  precise  time  when  it  commenced.  We  know 
from  PAUSANIAS,  that  Cadmus  granted  it  to  the  city  or  citadel, 
which  he  built  in  Baeotia;  and  it  is  probable,  as  M.  SIMON  re- 
marks, that  this  prince,  a  native  of  Phenicia,  and  from  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Palestine,  having  learned  how  much  the  confluence 
of  criminals  and  debtors  into  the  Jewish*«Vz>*  of  refuge  had  been 
of  use  to  that  people,  had  used  the  same  means  to  draw  inhabi- 
tants into  his.  Theseus  for  Athens,  and  Romulus  for  his  new 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  157 

SEC.  IV.  ITS    TEMPLES. 

city,  had  recourse  to  the  same  piece  of  policy,  if  we  believe  PLU- 
TARCH. DIODORUS  SICULUS  assures  us  that  Cybele  founded  an 
Asylum  in  Samothrace.  The  Egyptian  Hercules  passed  for  the 
author  of  that  of  Canopus:  That  of  Diana  Stratonia  at  Smyrna,  and 
that  of  the  Tenean  Nefitune  owed  their  institution  to  Oracular 
responses. 

But  as  this  privilege,  granted  to  criminals  not 
only  in  the  Temples  and  near  the  Altars,  but 


and  to  what  pla-    even  jn  the  cities  which  claimed  it,  and  actually 

ces  or  structures 

it  attached.  enjoyed  it  time  immemorial,  was  capable  of  pro- 

ducing very  bad  consequences,  such  as  autho- 
rising crimes,  in  hopes  of  impunity,  the  Asylum  was  restrained 
to  in-voluntary  offences.  This,  according  to  THVCYDIDES,  was  the 
way  the  Athenians  repelled  the  charge  of  the  Boeotians  —  asserting 
that  their  Altars  were  only  Sanctuaries  for  crimes  of  this  sort. 
We  learn  from  TITUS  LIVIUS,  that  the  murderer  of  king  Eume- 
nes  was  obliged  to  quit  the  Temple  of  Samothrace,  where  he  had 
taken  Sanctuary.  Thus  the  Asyla  were  properly  for  involuntary 
delinquencies;  for  those  who  were  oppressed  by  unjust  power; 
for  slaves  ill  used  by  cruel  masters;  and  for  debtors  who  were 
unjustly  dealt  with,  &c.  But  as  the  wisest  institutions  are  liable 
to  be  abused,  even  criminals  condemned  to  death,  found  a  secure 
Sanctuary  in  the  Temple  of  Pallas  at  Lacedemon;  bankrupts,  in 
that  of  the  Goddess  Hebe  at  Phliusj  and  in  that  of  Diana  at  Ephe- 
sus.  —  It  was  not  only  Cities  and  Temples  that  served  for  Sanctua- 
ries; the  Sacred  Grove,  the  Altars,  the  Statues  of  the  Gods,  those 
of  the  Emperors,  and  the  Tombs  of  Heroes,  wherever  they 
were,  had  the  same  privilege;  and  it  was  enough  for  a  criminal  to 
be  within  the  compass  of  those  Groves;  or  to  have  embraced  an 
Altar,  the  Statues  of  some  God,  or  Tomb  ^of  some  Hero,  to  be  in 
perfect  safety.  Being  once  within  the  protection  of  an  Asylum, 
the  criminal  remained  there,  commonly  at  the  feet  of  the  Altar  or 
U 


158  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  It. 

ITS    TEMPLKS.  SEC.  IV- 

Statue,  and  had  his  victuals  brought  to  him,  till  he  found  an  oppor- 
tunity of  making  his  escape,  or  of  satisfying  the  oifended  party. 

The  Asylum  was  hot  always  inviolate;  either 
The  right  was      .        „,  .... 

not  always  invio-    tne  offender  was  sometimes  forcibly  torn  from 

it;  or  permitted  to  die  of  hunger,  by  cutting  off 
his  provisions,  and  sometimes  erecting  a  wall 
about  the  place  of  refuge,  as  the  Ephori  did  in  the  case  of  Pausa- 
nias,  of  which  we  are  told  by  CORNELIUS  NEPOS.  The  sanctity 
of  the  Asylum  would,  no  doubt,  have  been  oftener  violated  than  it 
was,  had  it  not  been  for  the  punishments  appointed  by  Gods  and 
men  against  the  Profaners:  I  say  by  the  Gods,  because  the  cala- 
mities which  sometimes  ensued  upon  the  profanation  of  those 
places,  were  construed  to  be  the  effect  of  Divine  vengeance.  This 
accordingly  was  the  judgment  pronounced  upon  the  desolating 
plague,  that  befel  Epirus,  after  the  murder  of  Laodamia,  who  was 
slain  in  the  Temple  of  Diana.  The  history  is  thus  related  by 
JUSTIN:  There  were  none  remaining  in  all  Epirus,  of  the  blood 
royal,  but  Nereis  and  Laodanria,  her  sister.  The  former  married 
the  son  of  Gelo,  king  of  Sicily,  and  JLaodamia,  who  fled  for  refuge 
to  the  Temple  of  Diana,  was  assassinated  there  by  the  people: 
but  the  Gods  revenged  this  sacrilege  by  plagues  and  calamities, 
which  proved  the  ruin  of  almost  the  whole  nation.  To  barren- 
ness, famine,  and  civil  war,  succeeded  other  wars,  which  brought 
all  to  the  greatest  extremity}  and  Milo,  who  had  given  that  un- 
fortunate princess  her  mortal  blow,  was  seized  with  such  furious 
madness  as  to  tear  out  his  own  bowels,  of  which  he  died  in  ex- 
treme agony,  on  the  twelfth  clay  after  the  murder.  They  pro- 
nounced the  same  judgment  upon  the  infamous  disease  that 
finished  the  days  of  Sylta,  who  had  violated  the  right  of  Asylum. 
The  Oracles  consulted  after  such  kinds  of  profanations,  prescrib- 
ed not  only  for  the  offender,  but  for  whole  cities,  solemn  expiations, 
or  jmblic  reparations,  to  be  modes  thus  the  Lacedemonians  were 


CHAP.  H.  MACHINERY  OP  IDOLATRY.  1.59 

SEC.   V.  ITS    VICTIMS    OR    SACRIFICES. 

obliged  to  erect  two  Statues  of  brass  to  the  unhappy  Pausaniaa, 
in  the  very  place  where  he  died. 

'  M.  SIMON  seems  to  think  that  all  the  Temples, 

SaC1>ed  Grove8»    alld  Altars'    &C"   WC1'e    As>'la: 


its  abuses.  there  is  however,  a  great  probability  that  all  these 

places  did  not  enjoy  that  privilege.  Be  that  as 
it  will,  the  Asyla  occasioned  more  harm,  by  the  impunity  they 
gave  to  offenders,  than  they  did  good  by  the  protection  it  offered 
to  some  who  were  innocent;  wherefore  Tiberius  abolished  them. 


SECTION    FIFTH. 

ITS  VICTIMS  OR  SACRIFICES. 

Sacrifice  is  an  act  of  religion,  whereby  man 
The  simplicity         .  .      T>.    .    .         P  .  . 

of    Sacrifices    in    acknowledges  the  Divinity  of  him  to  whom  he 

general,   m    the    offers  jt  Up,  professes  to  honour  him  in  a  solemn- 
early  ages. 
;=s==    manner,  to  thank  him    for  blessings  received, 

and  to  supplicate  him  for  new  ones.  In  the  earliest  times  of  Pa- 
ganism the  worship  paid  to  the  Gods  was  exceedingly  simple. 
The  Egyptians,  if  we  believe  TIIEOPHRASTUS,  cited  by  PORPHY- 
RY, made  an  offering  in  ancient  times  to  their  Gods,  not  of  incense 
and  perfumes,  but  of  the  green  herds,  which  they  gathered,  and 
presented  to  them  as  the  first  productions  of  nature.  OVID  paints 
very  well  the  simplicity  of  those  primitive  Sacrifices:  No  incense, 
says  he,  as  yet  was  brought  from  the  banks  of  Euphrates,  nor 
the  fragrant  costus  from  the  extremity  of  India.  They  were 
strangers  then  to  the  blushing  saffron;  and  the  richest  offerings 
with  which  the  Altars  were  crowned,  were  simple  herbs  or  bay- 
leaves.  The  same  THEOPHRASTUS  adds,  that  they  joined  libation 
to  those  first  Sacrifices;  and  doubtless  it  was  -water  they  poured 
out  in  honour  of  the  Gods:  For  the  Egyptians,  of  whom  he 
speaks,  made  use  of  no  other  liquor,  as  we  shall  see  afterward^. 


169  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  li. 

ITS    VICTIMS    OR    SACRIFICES.  SEC.  V. 

PLINY,  MACROBIUS,  PLUTARCH,  DIONYSIUS  of  Halicarnassus, 
and  THUCYDIDES,  make  frequent  mention  of  the  simplicity  of 
the  festivals  and  Sacrifices  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  and  of  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  as  may  be  seen  in  Vossius,  who  has  cited 
them  in  proof  of  this  truth.  —  This  primitive  simplicity  lasted  a 
very  long  time,  and  there  were  places  where  it  always  subsisted. 
PAUSANIAS,   speaking  of  an   Altar  at  Athens,   consecrated    to 
Jujiiter  the  most  high,  tells  us,  that  no  living   thing  was  offered 
there,  but  that  they  made  only  simfllc  offerings,  without  so  much 
as  using  wine  in  the  libations.     This  custom  was  derived  from 
Cecrofis,  who,  in  regulating  the  worship  of  the  Gods,  and  the  ce- 
remonies he  had  brought  from  Egypt  into  Greece,  ordained  that 
nothing  which  had  life  should  he  given  in  sacrifice,  but  that  they 
should  only  ofFer  simfilc  cakes,  as  we  learn  from  the  same  author. 
•  As  they  offered  in  sacrifice  the  same  things 

blood^Sacrilfces    ^J"  ^e(^  uPon>  when  bread  came  to  be  substitut- 
became  general;      etl  jn  the  room  of  herbs,  they  applied  to  that  use 
a  sort  of  flour  and  cakes  baked  with  salt.  —  To 
these  sacrifices  they  joined  the  productions  of  the  earth,  honey, 
oil,  and  wine;  and  when  they  came  afterwards  to  feed  upon  the 
flesh  of  animals,  they  began  also  to  make  offerings  of  bloody  sacri- 
fices, in  honour  of  the  Gods:  For  there  always  was  a  remarkable 
connexion  between  the  food  of  mankind  and  the  matter  of  the 
Sacrifices,  since  the  law  ordained,  that  one  part  of  them  should 
be  eaten;  and  they  are  always  accompanied  with  feasting,  as  we 
shall  see  in  the  sequel. 
.......  *  •  It  would  be  hard  to  determine  at  what  period 

of  time  the  use  of  bloodlJ  wrfa™   was  intro- 


tion  is  uncertain,    duced  amone  the  Pagans.     No  great  stress  will 

excepting  Abel's 

offering:  be  laid  on  the  authority  of  OVID,  who  alleges, 

'  that  the  sow  was  the  first  animated  victim  which 
was  offered  to  Ceres,  upon  account  of  the  ravages  which  that  ani- 
mal makes  in  the  fields.  HOMER,  at  least,  will  tell  us,  that  the 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF   IDOLATRY.  161 

SEC.  V.  ITS   VICTIMS   OR    SACRIFICES. 

use  of  this  sort  of  sacrifices  was  common  in  the  time  of  the  Tro- 
jan mar;  and  I  do  notbelieve  we  have  more  early  examples.  I 
know  that  PAUSANi^Pspeaks  of  the  human  sacrifice  which  Ly- 
caon  offered  up  to  Jufiiter  Lycetus;  that  the  authors  of  the  Argo- 
nautics  tell  us,  the  heroes  of  the  golden  fleece  stowed  a  hecatomb 
in  their  ship,  as  an  offering  to  Afiollo;  they  also  mention  a  sacri- 
fice of  the  deer  taken  in  hunting,  which  those  heroes  sacrificed 
instead  of  the  other  animals;  but  these  authorities  are  to  be  less 
regarded  than  HOMER,  the  most  ancient  of  poets,  and  conse- 
quently nearer  to  the  events  he  described. — Be  that  as  it  will, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  but  the  use  of  bloody  sacrifices  in  the  Pagan 
world  is  of  very  great  antiquity,  if  what  is  advanced  by  some  of 
the  fathers  of  the  church  be  true,  that  God  accepted  that  sort  of 
sacrifice,  and  MOSES  enjoined  them  to  the  Israelites,  only  to  pre- 
vent their  offering  them  to  the  Pagan  Gods,  as  was  done  by  the 
neighbouring  nations.  But  this  account  is  by  no  means  just;  and 
it  is  certain,  that  in  the  true  religion,  these  sacrifices  were  as  old 
as  the  world,  since  CAIN  offered  to  God  the  fruits  of  the  earthy 
and  ABEL  sacrificed  to  him  -victims  taken  from  his  flocks.  Now 
as  idolatry  is  but  a  corruption  of  the  true  religion,  there  is  no 
doubt  of  its  having  borrowed  its  rites  from  thence,  and  in  particu- 
lar, the  use  of  bloody  sacrifices,  and  that  from  the  earliest  ages. 
It  is  however  as  true,  that  there  were  countries  where  this  prac- 
tice was  not  received  till  very  late,  and  with  reluctance  too,  as 
the  fact  I  am  going  to  relate  testifies  sufficiently.  Among  the 
Athenians,  the  saciificer,  after  having  struck  the  animal  that  was 
to  be  offered  up,  was  obliged  to  fly  with  all  his  might.  He  was 
pursued,  and  to  prevent  his  being  arrested,  he  threw  away  the  ax 
he  had  made  use  of,  as  being  alone  guilty  of  the  death  of  the 
•victim.  The  pursuers  seized  the  ax,  and  entered  an  action 
against  it.  He,  who  spoke  in  defence  of  'the  ax,  alleged  it  was 
less  guilty  than  the  grinder,  who  had  sharpened  it;  the  grinder 
being  questioned,  laid  the  blame  upon  the  sharpening  stone  he 


162  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

ITS    VICTIMS    OR    SACRIFICES.  SEC.V. 

had  used,  and  thus  it  became  an  endless  process:     A  ceremony 
ridiculous  indeed,   but  which  proves  the  aversion  the  Athenians 
had  to  bloody  sacrifices. 
r  ' '  But  it  is  fit  to  observe,  that  at  the  very  time 

former  Simplicity  tneX  were  accustomed  to  offer  up  victims  which 

of  sacrifice  is  not  ha(j  /^j,    they  did  not  for4,et  the  ancient  form  of 

forgotten. 

-  sacrifices,  which  consisted  only  in  herbs,  salt,  and 

meal,  and  to  this  they  had  still  recourse,  as  the  most  proper  way 
to  appease  the  Gods.  Thus,  according  to  FESTUS  and  SERVIUS, 
they  always  threw  meal  and  salt  upon  the  -victims,  upon  the^re, 
and  upon  the  sacrificing  knives.  Numa  Pompilius,  as  PLINY  has 
it,  even  laid  the  Romans  under  a  prohibition  not  to  use  bloody 
-victims,  or  any  other  sacrifice,  but  those  in  which  they  employed 
fruits,  salt,  and  corn.  DIONYSIUS  of  Hulicarnassus  seems  to  as- 
%cribe  to  Romulus  what  we  have  been  saying  of  Numa;  and  he 
adds,  that  this  usage  was  still  subsisting  in  his  time,  although  they 
had  superadded  to  it  that  of  bloody  sacrifices.  Plutarch  observes 
there  were  Gods  among  the  Romans,  of  whom  the  God  Terminus 
•was  one,  towards  whom  they  preserved  the  ancient  custom  of 
offering  up  nothing  that  had  life. 

••         In  process  of  time,  they  came  to  such  a  pitch 

At  last,  human       f  superstition    as   lo  offer   up   human  -victims. 
sacrifices      were 

offered  up;  Who  was  the  first  author  of  these  barbarous  sa- 

crifices is  not  known;  but  whether  it  be  Chro- 
nus  or  Saturn,  as  it  is  in  the  fragment  of  SANCHONIATHON,  or 
Lycaon,  as  PAUSANIAS  seems  to  insinuate,  or  some  other,  it  is 
certain,  that  this  barbarous  custom  was  propagated  to  almost 
every  known  nation.  Fathers  themselves,  actuated  by  a  blind  fu- 
ry, sacrificed  their  children,  and  burned  them  instead  of  incense. 
These  horrid  sacrifices,  prescribed  even  by  the  oracles  of  the 
Gods,  were  known  in  MOSES'S  days,  and  constituted  a  part  of 
these  abominations  with  which  that  holy  legislator  reproaches  the 
the  Amorites.  The  Moabites  sacrificed  their  children  to  Moloch, 


CHAP    II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  i63 


SEC.  V.  ITS    VICTIMS    OR    SACRIFICES. 

and  burned  them  in  the  cavity  of  the  statue  of  that  God.  Accord- 
ing to  DIONYSIUS  of  Halicarnassus,  they  offered  men  in  sacrifice 
to  Saturn,  not  only  at  Tyre,  and  Carthage,  but  even  in  Greece, 
and  Italy.  The  Gauls,  if  we  may  believe  DIODORUS  SICULUS,  sa- 
crificed to  their  Gocls  their  prisoners  of  war;  those  of  Tauris,  all 
the  strangers  who  landed  upon  their  coasts;  the  inhabitants  of 
Pella  sacrificed  a  man  to  Peleus.  Those  of  Temessa,  as  PAUSA- 
NIAS  has  it,  offered  every  year  a  young  virgin  to  \hegenius  of  one 
of  Ulysses's  associates,  whom  they  had  stoned.  STRABO  men- 
tions those  abominable  sacrifices  offered  by  the  ancient  Germans. 
ATHANASIUS  gives  the  same  account  of  the  Phenicians  and  Cre- 
tans; and  TERTULLIAN  of  the  Scythians  and  Africans.  In  the 
Iliad  of  HOMER  we  see  twelve  Trojans  sacrificed  by  Achilles  to 
the  manes  of  Patroclus.  In' fine,  PORPHYRY  gives  a  long  detail 
of  all  the  places,  where,  in  old  times,  they  offered  up  human  sa- 
crifices.— From  all  these  testimonies  put  together,  and  from  sev- 
eral others,  which  it  is  needless  to  quote,  it  follows,  that  the  Phe- 
nicians, the  Egyptians,  Arabians,  Canaanites,  the  inhabitants  of 
Tyre  and  Carthage,  those  of  Athens  and  Lacedemon,  the  loni- 
ans,  nay,  all  Greece;  the  Romans,  the  Scythians,  the  Arabians, 
the  Allemans,  the  Angles,  the  Spaniards,  and  the  Gauls,  were 
equally  guilty  of  this  horrid  superstition. 

-  The  late  Abbe  DE  BOISSI,  ascribes  the  origin 

fr'm    ^AnaAam's    °^  *^a*  barbarous  custom  of  sacrificing  men,  to 

sacrifice      being    an  imperfect  knowledge  of  Abraham's  sacrifice. 

misunderstood: 

=^=^^=^    The  Canaanites,  says  he,  the  Amorites,  and  the 

other  people  in  the  neighbourhood  of  those  places,  where  that 
holy  Patriarch  had  lived,  no  doubt  would  hear  honourable  men- 
tion made  of  the  zeal  and  steadiness  of  that  holy  man,  who  sti- 
fled all  the  impressions  of  natural  affection  to  an  only  son;  they 
probably  knew  something  of  the  rewards  God  promised  to  his 
faith;  but  being  ignorant  that  the  sacrifice  was  not  accomplished, 
they  understood  the  thing  in  the  literal  meaning,  and  thought,  by 


164  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

ITS    VICTIMS   Oil    SACRIFICES.  SEC.  V. 

imitating  so  heroic  an  action,  to  obtain  the  same  benediction  from 
heaven:  and  indeed,  according  to  the  poets  and  historians,  it  was 
Saturn  who  introduced  the  detestable  custom  of  sacrificing  men; 
now  Saturn,  in  the  judgment  of  the  best  authors,  is  the  same 
wit!)  Abraham.  The  proofs  of  it  are  clear;  but  I  must  defer  them 
till  we  come  to  the  article  of  that  God. 
======        The  ancients  came  at  last  to  see  those  inhu- 

man   sacrifices  in   a  true   15ht;    and  the    facts 


to  be  abolished.  which  I  am  going  to  relate,  were  the  occasion 
at  last  of  their  ceasing  by  degrees.  An  oracle, 
says  PLUTARCH,  having  ordered  the  Lacedemonians,  in  time  of 
a  plague,  to  sacrifice  a  virgin;  and  the  lot  having  fallen  upon  a 
young  maid  named  Helena,  an  eagle  carried  off  the  sacrificing 
knife  and  laid  it  on  the  head  of  a  heifer^  which  was  sacrificed  in 
her  stead.  The  same  author  tells  us  that  Pclopiclas,  the  Athenian 
general,  having  been  directed  in  a  dream,  the  night  before  a  bat- 
tle, to  sacrifice  a  fair  virgin  to  the  manes  of  the  daughters  of  Sce- 
dassus,  who  had  been  ravished  and  assassinated  in  the  same  place; 
he,  under  great  terror,  deliberated  about  the  inhumanity  of  such 
a  sacrifice,  which  he  believed  to  be  odious  to  the  Gods;  when 
seeing  a  red  mare,  he  sacrificed  it  by  the  advice  of  Theocritus 
the  soothsayer,  and  gained  the  victory.  In  Egypt  Amasis  made  a 
law,  that  only  the  figures  of  men  should  be  offered  up  instead  of 
themselves.  In  the  island  of  Cyprus,  in  the  room  of  human  sacri- 
fices, Diphilus  substituted  sacrifices  of  oxen;  as  Hercules  did  in 
Italy  waxen  heads  named  OscilU,  instead  of  real  men. 
•  Anciently  the  head  of  the  family  was  equally 

Hficrst    kinS  ancl  Plicst»  and  lle  was  the  person  by  whom 


and  the  choice  of    sacrifices  were  offered;  but  in  later  times,  every 

victims,  in  which 

something     was     state  had  priests  and  other  ministers,  ordained 


to  this  fu»ction>   as  we  sha"  s»ow  in  the  follow- 
ing  SECTION.     But  yet  at  that  very  time  when 
there  were  priests  instituted*  the  head  of  the  family  still  retained 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  165 

SEC.  V.  ITS    VICTIMS    OR    SACRIFICES. 

the  same  right.  Thus  we  may  distinguish  two  kinds  of  sacrifices; 
the  private  ones,  which  every  one  might  offer  in  his  own  house, 
to  his  Lares  or  'Penates;  and  the  public  sacrifices  established  by 
the  laws,  for  which  there  were  ministers  authorised,  and  a  priest 
who  presided  over  them.  These  sorts  of  sacrifices  were  offered 
at  Rome  and  in  Greece,  according  to  certain  rules  they  were 
strictly  to  observe.  To  this  purpose  CICERO  says,  "our  ances- 
tors have  laid  down  rules  for  divine  things,  so  that  for  the  cere- 
monies instituted  at  high  solemnities  we  have  recourse  to  the 
Priests,  who  are  well  instructed  in  them;  and  for  managing  the 
affairs  of  the  commonwealth,  we  consult  the  Augurs,  &c.  &c. — 
The  principal  business  of  these  ministers,  consisted  in  making 
a  right  choice  of  victims;  for  of  whatever  nature  they  were,  great 
care  was  to  be  made  in  the  choice  of  them;  and  the  same  ble- 
mishes which  excluded  them  from  sacrifices  among  the  Jews, 
also  rendered  them  imperfect  among  the  Pagans;  whence  it 
would  seem  that  the  latter  received  from,  or  communicated  to, 
the  former,  several  of  their  rites.  Vossius  in  his  learned  treatise 
upon  idolatry,  has,  on  this  branch  of  it,  entered  into  very  curious 
philological  dissertations,  to  which  we  must  refer.  We  will  only 
say  here,  with  POLLUX,  that  the  victim  ought  to  be  clean,  with- 
out blemish,  neither  lame,  nor  deformed:  white,  and  of  an  odd  num- 
ber, for  the  celestial  Gods;  while,  on  the  contrary,  they  should  be 
black,  and  of  an  even  number,  for  the  infernal  Gods.  They  should 
also  be  chosen  from  among  those  animals,  plants,  or  fruits,  which 
were  agreeable  to  the  Gods  to  whom  they  were  offered;  for  all 
sorts  of  victims  were  not  offered  indifferently  to  every  Divinity. 
It  was  commonly  a  sow  big  with  young,  that  they  offered  to  Cy 
dele,  and  to  the  goddess  Terra;  the  bull  to  Jupiter;  to  Juno,  heifers, 
ewe-lambs,  and  at  Corinth  a  she-goat;  tc»  Neptune,  a  bull,  and 
lambs,  as  appears  from  HOMEII:  to  Pluto,  a  black  bull;  and  to 
Proserpine,  a  black  cow;  but  when  that  Goddess  is  taken  for 
X 


166  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

ITS    VICTIMS    OB.    SACRIFICES.  SEC*  V. 

Hecate,  they  sacrifice  to  her  a  dog,  whose  barking  they  supposed 
drove  away  the  apparitions  sent  by  her.  The  most  acceptable 
victim  to  Ceres,  was  the  boar  and  the  sows  they  made  her  like- 
wise an  offering  of  honey  and  of  milk:  to  Venus  was  offered  the 
dove,  the  he-goat,  the  heifer,  the  she-goat,  Sec.:  to  Bacchus  the  he- 
goat.  To  the  Sun  was  sometimes  offered  honey,  but  the  Persians, 
the  Armenians,  the  Massagetes,  and  others,  sacrificed  to  him  the 
horse.  To  Apollo,  (for  he  was  frequently  distinguished  from  the 
Sun}  they  offered  the  ram,  the  she-goat,  the  ewe,  and  the  he-goat; 
but  when  they  confounded  him  with  the  Sun,  they  offered  him  a 
bullock,  with  gilded  horns,  as  an  emblem  of  his  beams;  they  offered 
him  likewise  a  raven.  To  Mars  was  generally  offered  the  horse, 
the  bull,  the  boar,  and  the  ram;  but  the  Lusilanians  in  particular, 
sacrificed  to  him,  goats  of  either  sex,  and  sometimes,  their  ene- 
mies; while  the  Scythians  offered  him  asses,  and  the  Carians  dogs, 
We  learn  from  HOMER,  that  the  victims  most  grateful  to  Miner- 
va, were  the  bull,  the  lamb,  and  oxen  that  had  never  known  the 
yoke.  To  Diana,  stags  and  she-goats,  more  especially  among  the 
Athenians;  and  with  some  others,  cows.  To  the  Dii  Lares,  a  bul- 
lock, or  an  ewe-lamb,  according  to  the  ability  of  those  who  sacri- 
ficed, these  being  of  a  private  nature:  to  them  they  also  sacrificed 
cocks,  and  swallows,  and  hogs,  from  which  latter  these  Deities 
were  sometimes  called  Grundiles. 

'••••'  In  fine,  each  Deity  had  their  favourite,  or  con- 

also  their  conse-    Derated  birds,  animals,Jishes  and  plants;  between 

crated  birds,  ani-    which,  and  their  appropriate  victims  just  spoken 

mals,  fishes,    and 

plants.  of,  there  seems  to  be  some  ground  of  distinc- 

•"^^•======  tion. —  1st,  of  the  BIRDS,  the  eagle  was  conse- 
crated to  Jupiter;  the  peacock  to  Juno;  the  cock  and  the  owl  to 
Minerva;  the  cock,  the  vulture  and  the  wood-pecker  to  Mars;  the 
cock  also  to  Apollo,  and  to  Esculapius;  the  dove  and  sparrow  to 
Venus;  the  king-Jisher  to  Tethys;  the  fihanix  to  the  Sun;  and  the 
cicada>  assort  of  insect,  to  Apollo.— 2d,  Among  ANI  VIALS,  theflo7z 


CHAP.  IT.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  16.7 

SEC.  V.  ITS    VICTIMS    OR    SACRIFICES. 

was  consecrated  to  Vulcan;  the  wolf  to  Apollo  and  Mars;  the  dog 
to  the  Lares  and  to  Mars;  the  dragon  to  Bacchus  and  Minerva; 
the  griffin  to  Apollo;  the  serpent  to  Esculapius;  the  «/«,§•  to  //<?r- 
cules;  the  /awfi  to  Juno;  the  /torse  to  Mars;  the  heifer  to  /«'*  — 
3d,  Among  the  FISHES,  which  belonged  all  to  Neptune,  the  ccm- 
cAa  marina,  and  the  small  fish  called  a/ma,  were  sacred  to  Venus, 
and  the  barbel  to  Diana. — 4th,  Among  the  TREES  and  PLANTS, 
the  /;t>ze  was  consecrated  to  Cybele,  for  the  sake  of  Atys;  the  oa£ 
and  the  AeecA  to  Jupiter;  every  species  of  oak  to  Rhea;  the  o//r<r 
to  Minerva;  the  /au?W  to  Apollo,  from  his  amour  with  Daphne; 
the  r<?«/  to  Pan,  from  the  story  of  Syrinx;  the  &>*«*  and  the 
myrtle  to  Apollo  and  Venus;  the  cypress  to  Pluto;  the  narcissus 
and  the  maiden-hair  or  capilli  -veneris,  to  Proserpine;  the  csA  to 
Mars;  the  purselane  to  Mercury;  the  myrtle  and  the  poppy  to 
Ceres;  the  iwe  to  Bacchus;  the  poplar  to  Hercules;  dittany  and 
the  poppy  to  Lucina;  garlic  to  the  Penates;  the  a/o'er,  the  cca'ar, 
the  juniper,  and  the  narcissus,  to  the  Furies;  the  /ja/m  to  the 
Manes;  the  plane-tree  to  the  Genii;  the  aWer  to  Sylvanus;  the  /»>z<r 
also  to  .Paw,  &c.  &c.  And  if  we  except  some  symbolical  motives, 
which  have  been  transiently  mentioned,  for  these  sorts  of  conse- 
crations, there  is  no  possibility  of  divining  what  the  other  motives 
may  have  been.  It  is  probable — since  those  distinctions  of  victims, 
and  of  objects  especially  consecrated  to  some  Divinity  exclusive 
of  others,  were  not  known  to  the  earliest  ages  of  idolatry— that 
all  this  refinement  was  invented  by  the  Priests,  who  proposed 
thereby  to  imprint  upon  the  minds  of  the  people  a  higher  vene- 
ration for  the  Gods. 

'  The  victim  being  chosen  in  the  manner  we 

nials  of  ^Sacri-  ^ave  sa^1  **  was  decked  with  ribbons  and  fillets; 
fice-  they  gilded  its  horns,  laid  upon  its  head  the  salt- 

cake,  fruit,  and  male-frankincense;  this  is  what 
they  call  immolation.  Then  came  the  libation;  it  was  of  wine, 
which  the  priest  first  tasted  himself,  and  then  gave  to  the  by- 


168  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATU\.  UlAR  11. 

ITS    VICTIMS    OR    SACRIFICES.  SEC.  V. 

star.deis  to  do  the  same.  After  this,  was  the  ceremony  called 
litibatur,  that  is,  the  "priest  took  some  hairs  from  between  the 
horns  of  the  victim,  threw  them  into  the  Jire,  and  then  turning 
his  face  towards  the  east,  ordered  the  sacrifice!'  to  slay  the  victim. 
Hardly  was  it  dead,  when  the  Priest  plunged  the  sacrificing 
knife  into  its  entrails,  to  see  if  the  sacrifice  was  auspicious,  an  per- 
litatum  foret ;  and  then  they  were  explored  by  the  Haruspex,  in  or- 
der to  draw  from  them  a  favourable  omen.  The  next  thing  was  to 
cut  the  victim  in  pieces,  part  whereof  they  roasted,  and  distributed 
for  the  feast.  The  saciificers  were  termed  Victimarii,  Popes, 
Cultrarii.  The  priests,  besides  the  vestments  appointed  for  his 
functions,  was  sure  to  be  crowned  with  a  chaplet  of  the  branches 
or  leaves  of  the  tree  peculiarly  sacred  to  the  God  for  whom  the 
sacrifice  was;  as  of  oaf:  for  Jupiter;  of  laurel  for  Apollo;  of  white 
poplar  for  Hercules;  of  the  vine  for  Bacchus;  of  the  cypress  for 
Pluto,  and  so  for  the  rest. — The  Diviners  among  the  Greeks,  as 
Calchas,  Mopsus,  Amphiaraus,  and  many  others;  and  the  Harris- 
pices  among  the  Romans,  assisted  at  the  sacrifices,  to  consult  the 
entrails  of  the  victim,  and  give  their  opinion  of  them.  It  belonged 
to  them  to  order  the  time,  the  form,  and  the  matter  of  the  sacri- 
fices, especially  upon  important  occasions;  and  they  were  not 
wanting  then  to  consult  them,  and  follow  their  decisions. — But 
there  were  different  sorts  of  sacrifices,  the  holocaust,  the  expia- 
tory sacrifice,  the  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving,  and  several  others,  in 
which  their  way  of  managing  the  victim  was  different.  In  the 
holocaust,  it  was  wholly  consumed  by  fire.  Sometimes  they  only 
sprinkled  the  blood  around  the  altar;  burnt  upon  it  the  fat  that 
1'iclosed  the  entrails,  and  the  remainder  was  carried  off,  or  eaten 
up  near  the  same  place  where  the  immolation  was  performed. 
There  were  portions  which  the  priests,  only,  had  a  right  to  touch, 
others  were  distributed,  or  curried  off.  It  would  seem  also,  that 
among  the  Gentiles,  whatever  was  designed  for  ordinary  food, 
especially  the  flesh  of  animals,  was  first  offered  up  by  way  of  sa- 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  169 

SEC.   V.  ITS    VICTIMS    OR    SACRIFICES. 

crifice;  and  hence  the  primitive  Christians,  while  living  in  the 
midst  of  Pagans,  were  so  much  upon  their  guard  against  eating 
meats  that  had  been  offered  to  Idols.  If  this  account,  which  has 
been  likewise  followed  by  some  authors,  and  which  appears  to  be 
grounded  upon  antiquity,  is  not  strictly  just,  this  much  at  least 
is  truej  that  all  the  fiublic  feasts  were  ushered  in  with  sacrifices, 
upon  the  flesh  whereof  they  feasted,  as  AJJTHENEUS  expressly 
says;  to  be  satisfied  of  this,  we  need  only  read  HOMER,  VIRGIL, 
and  other  ancients. — It  was  not  always  necessary  to  bring  a  living 
•victim  to  the  altar,  since,  for  want  of  other  animals,  they  went 
and  slew  some  in  hunting,  to  be  offered  in  sacrifice.  Nor  was 
the  whole  apimal  offered  to  the  Gods;  the  thighs  were  the  por- 
tion which  was  allotted  to  them,  as  PAUSANIAS  remarks  in  gene- 
ral, with  respect  to  the  sacrifices  of  the  Greeks;  and  this  part  of 
the  victim  they  burned  upon  a  clear  fire,  made  of  chips  of  wood. 
APOLLONIUS  RHODIUS  gives  the  same  account:  "  They  slay, 
two  oxen,"  says  he,  "  cut  them  into  quarters,  and  then  into 
pieces,  setting  the  -votive  thighs  apart  by  themselves;  and  after 
having  covered  them  with  the  fat,  or  with  the  amentum  which  is 
fat,  they  roast  them  upon  chips  of  wood."  The  sacrifices  were 
always  accompanied  with  libations.  This  was  the  liquor  they 
poured  out  in  honour  of  the  God  to  whom  the  sacrifice  was 
offered,  and  oft-times  the  sacrifice  itself  was  no  more  than  sim- 
ple libation.  In  ancient  times,  the  libation  was  only  an  effusion  of 
water,  while  the  use  of  ivine  was  not  introduced,  or  was  so  only  in 
some  places;  and  what  will  appear  surprising,  several  nations  that 
celebrated  the  Orgies,  or  Bacchanalia,  knew  not,  or  at  least  made 
no  use  of  ivine.  The  Persians,  according  to  HERODOTUS,  drank 
nothing  but  water.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  nations  of  Pon- 
tus,  the  Cappadocians,  and  Scythians.  How  could  the  Arcadians, 
who  of  old  lived  upon  nothing  but  acorns,  or  rather  upon  a  sort  of 
•wild  chestnut;  the  Troglodytes,  the  Ichthyoj  hagi,  and  a  number 
of  vagrant  people,  who  lived  in  the  miclst  of  woods  or  in  cave  s 


170  MACHINERY  OP  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

ITS    VICTIMS    OR    SACRIFICES.  SEC.  V. 

have  any  notion  of  the  use  of  -wine?  And  yet  they  had  a  religion, 
sacrifices,  and  libations.  Nations  even  more  civilized,  who  knew 
its  use,  such  as  the  Egyptians,  durst  not,  if  PLUTARCH  says  true, 
bring  any  of  it  into  the  temples.  And  indeed,  before  Psammiticus, 
the  Egyptians  made  no  use  of  wine  at  all,  nor  offered  any  to  their 
Gods,  believing  it  not  to  be  agreeable  to  them_,  since  they  looked 
upon  it  as  the  blood  of  the  Titans,  which  mixing  with  the  earth, 
after  Jufiiter  had  thunder-struck  them,  produced  the  -vine.  Al- 
though for  Jirivatc  sacrifices  there  was  no  time  specified,  yet  in 
jiublic  sacrifices,  they  were  very  religiously  exact  in  choosing  the 
morning  for  the  Celestial  Gods,  and  the  evening  or  the  night,  for 
the  Terrestrial  and  Infernal  Gods.  The  sacrifices  madp  in  honour 
of  the  last,  required  peculiar  ceremonies.  They  sacrificed  to 
them  no  victims  but  such  as  were  all  black,  as  we  have  remark- 
ed; for  receiving  whose  blood,  a  hole  was  prepared  in  the  earth, 
and  into  it  was  the  wine  of  the  libation  thrown.  The  entire  victim 
was  burnt,  as  in  the  holocausts,  without  reserving  any  thing  for 
the  feast;  for  it  was  not  lawful  to  eat  the  meat  that  had  been  offer- 
ed to  the  infernal  Gods  and  to  the  Manes.  EUSEBIUS  cites  a  pas- 
sage from  PORPHYRY,  concerning  an  oracle  of  djiollo,  which 
prescribed  the  form  of  sacrifices.  "  There  are,  said  PORPHYRY, 
after  the  oracle,  Gods  of  the  Earth,  and  Gods  of  Hell.  To  them, 
victims  are  to  be  offered  of  quadrupeds  of  a  black  colour;  but  with 
this  difference,  that  for  the  Terrestrial  Gods,  the  victims  must  be 
presented  upon  altars,  and  for  the  Infernal  Gods,  in  ditches  and 
in  holes.  To  the  <erial  Gods,  the  sacrifice  is  to  be  of  birds,  whose 
xvhole  body  is  to  be  burned  by  way  of  holocaust,  and  their  blood 
poured  out  around  the  altar.  Fowls  are  likewise  to  be  offered  up 
to  the  Sea  Gods,  but  the  libation  nuisf  be  poured  upon  the  waves, 
and  the  fowls  are  to  be  of  a  black  colour."  Whence  we  may  con- 
clude, that  the  birds  they  offered  to  the  Celestial  Gods  were  white, 
as  I  observed  already  of  other  victims.  But  we  are  farther  to  ob- 
serve, 1st,  That  at  Rome,  when  the  victim  had  any  spots,  they 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  171 

SEC.  V.  ITS    VICTIMS    OR    SACRIFICES. 

whitened  it  over  with  chalk,  and  this  is  what  they  called  Bos-cre- 
tatus.  2d,  That  they  offered  up  to  the  Terrestrial  Gods,  four  foot- 
ed beasts,  provided  they  were  black;  thus  it  was  with  the  hog 
they  sacrificed  to  Ceres,  because,  as  the  same  PORPHYRY  remarks, 
the  colour  of  the  earth  is  black.  Lastly,  that  as  ihejillets  where- 
with they  adorned  the  heads  of  the  victims  offered  to  the  Celestial 
Gods  were  to  be  white,  so,  those  with  which  they  dressed  the 
animals  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  Terrestrial  and  Infernal  Deities, 
were  to  be  black. — Sacrifices,  as  has  been  remarked,  did  not  al- 
ways consist  in  offering  up  animals  alone;  oft-times  they  present- 
ed to  the  Gods  nothing  but  fruits  and  plants,  as,  to  Pomona  and 
other  Divinities;  frequently  flour,  or  cakes  of  corn  or  barley-meal. 
Of  these,  the  Greeks  made  an  oblation  in  all  their  sacrifices,  of 
whatever  nature  they  were.  At  Rome,  these  cakes  were  made  of 
meal  and  salt,  which  they  called  Ador,  and  the  sacrifices  made  of 
them  Adorea  sacrijida.  According  to  Romulus's  law,  these  cakes 
were  to  be  baked  in  an  oven;  for  which  purpose  he  instituted  the 
festivals  called  Fornacalia;  whence  came  afterwards,  the  Goddess 
Fornax. — After  the  victim  was  slain,  there  were  Ministers  who 
held  vessels  ready  to  receive  the  blood;  others  with  instruments 
in  their  hands,  either  to  flay,  or  cut  it  in  several  pieces.  It  has 
been  observed,  that  the  Harusjiex,  the  JFlamen,  or  the  Priest,  ex- 
amined the  entrails  of  the  victim,  from  thence  to  draw  auspicious 
omens.  We  add  here,  1st,  That  the  heart,  the  liver,  the  lungs, 
and  the  sjileen  were  the  principal  subjects  of  their  attention.  2d, 
That  from  inspecting  the  entrails,  came  the  manner  of  divination, 
called  Extispicium.  3d,  That  they  made  observations  also  upon 
the  motion  of  the  tail,  when  the  victim  was  just  expiring.  If  it 
twisted,  that  signified  a  difficult  enter/trine:  when  it  was  turned 
downward,  it  presaged  an  overthrow,  but  if  it  was  lifted  up.  it  be- 
tokened a  complete  triumph.  4th,  That  they  drew  also  presages 
from  the  manner  in  which  the  sparkling  of  the  incense  as  it  burn- 
ed, as  well  as  from  the  smoak*  and  its  different  contortions, — 


1/2  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

ITS    VICTIMS    OR    SACRIFICES.  SEC.  V. 

When  the  sacrifice  was  ended,  if  the  omens  were  favourable,  it 
was  then  a  perfect  sacrifice,  which  was  expressed  by  the  single 
•word  Litare;  for  they  were  not  all  acceptable  to  the  Deity  to  whom 
they  were  made.  We  see  from  Plautus,  "  If  1  am  not  guilty  of 
what  you  lay  to  my  charge,  may  Jupiter  never  accept  a  sacrifice  I 
shall  offer."  Thus  there  was  no  true  sacrifice  without  the  Litation, 
if  one  may  be  allowed  to  adopt  the  word.  From  what  has  been  said, 
we  may  conclude  that  there  must  needs  have  been  in  the  Tem- 
ples, and  wherever  else  they  sacrificed,  different  afiartments 
marked  out;  some  for  firefiaring  or  adorning  the  -victim,  others  for 
killing  it,  others  for  dressing  the  flesh,  and  others  for  celebrating 
the  feast;  which  last,  though  an  act  of  religion,  was  exceedingly 
gay,  being  always  accompanied  by  dancing,  music,  and  hymns,  sung 
in  honour  of  the  Gods.  In  fine,  we  may  remark  with  Luc  IAN, 
that  the  sacrifices  differed  in  the  quality  of  the  victims,  according' 
to  the  character  of  those  who  offered  them  up.  The  Husbandman, 
soys  he,  offers  up  an  ox;  the  bhefiherd,  a  lamb;  and  the  Goat-herd, 
a  goat:  there  are  some  classes  who  make  only  a  simple  offering  of 
cakes  -and incense;  and  a  Paufier,  or  he  that  has  nothing,  makes 
Jiis  sacrifice  by  testing  his  rig/it  hand. — Sacrifices  were  become 
so  common,  as  to  be  offered  upon  almost  every  occasion  in  life: 
since,  besides  those  prescribed  by  the  rituals,  they  were  offered 
by  generals  before  battle,  as  we  may  sec  in  ancient  authors,  par- 
ticularly in  PAUSANIAS;  by  those  who  were  to  found  a  city,  as 
appears  from  the  same  author;  by  those  who  were  to  enter  upon  a 
journey;  in  the  common  affairs  of  domestic  life;  when  one  is 
afflicted  by  any  disease;  after  a  dream;  and  in  short,  they  enter 
upon  no  enterprise  of  any  importance,  till  they  have  first  im- 
plored the  assistance  of  the  Gods,  by  this  act  of  religion. 

The  Priest,  before  sacrificing,  was  to  prepare 
Purification  of    .  .  ,,    _ 

Hie  Priests,  pre-     himseli    for  it,  especially  by  continence  during 

crificir5'  ^  a  Sa"    th°  PrecedinS  niSht»  antl  !>}'  ablution;  and  for  that 
purpose,  there   was  ordinarily  at  the  entry  into 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  173 

SEC.V.  ITS    VICTIMS   OR   SACRIFICES. 

the  temple,  water  where  he  purified  himself.  In  ancient  times,  it 
would  seem  that  they  bathed  themselves  in  some  river;  at  least 
VIRGIL  makes  JEneas  say,  when  he  is  ready  to  offer  a  sacrifice, 
that  he  will  not  enter  upon  that  action  till  he  has  jiurijied  himself 
in  running  water.  But  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  this  kind  of  ablu- 
tion was  only  requisite  in  sacrifices  offered  to  the  celestial  Gods; 
simple  sprinkling  being  sufficient  for  the  terrestrial  and  infernal 
Gods.  At  Rome  they  never  offered  sacrifice,  till  they  had  ushered 
it  in  with  a  prayer  to  Janus,  for  the  reason  given  by  OVID,  that 
he  kept  the  gate  which  led  to  the  other  Gods.  This  prayer  being 
ended,  a  second  was  addressed  to  Jujiiter,  then  a  third  to  Juno,  or, 
according  to  others,  to  Vesta.  Afler  this,  the  priest  embraced  the 
altar  several  times,  lifting  his  hands  to  his  mouth;  then  he  pour- 
ed wine  upon  the  altar,  from  the  Patera:  lastly  he  ordered  the 
sacrifice!1  to  strike  the  victim;  which  he  did  either  with  the  knife 
called  Secesfiita,or  he  knocked  it  on  the  head  with  a  mallet. —  MONT- 
FAUCON  explains  most  of  the  sacrifices  that  are  still  to  be  found 
represented  upon  marbles,  and  upon  bas-reliefs;  so  that  there  is 
little  occasion  for  me  to  speak  further  of  them  here,  and  the  ra- 
ther, that  his  explications  suppose  the  figures  which  one  ought  to 
have  before  his  eyes:  but  as  in  that  multitude  of  sacrifices,  some 
were  more  solemn  than  others,  such  as  the  Hecatomb,  the  Agro- 
terte,  and  the  Taurobolium,  with  some  others,  I  suppose  it  is  in- 
cumbent upon  me  to  give  a  short  detail  of  them  here. 

-     '"         In  great  victories,  or  in  time  of  some  public 
The    Sacrifice         .  „,        ,    . 

called  Hecatomb     calamity,  they  sometimes  ottered  in  the  same 

offered  on  public  sacrifice,  no  less  than  an  hundred  oxen,  or  other 
emergencies. 

•-    animals;  this  is   what  they  called  a  Hecatombs 

sometimes  it  amounted  to  a  thousand,  though  very  rarely,  and 
then  it  got  the  name  of  a  Chiliomb.  CAPITOLINUS,  speaking  of  the 
Hecatomb  which  was  offered  by  Balbinus,  after  Ma-ximinus's  de- 
feat, informs  us  at  the  same  time,  in  what  manner  this  sort  of  sa- 
Y 


174  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

ITS    VICTIMS    OR    SACRIFICES.  SEC.  V. 

orifice  was  offered.    "  They  set  up  in  a  place  appointed,  an  hun- 
dred altars  of  turf,  and  sacrificed  an  hundred  sheefi,  and  as  many 
Jiogs;  if 'the  sacrifice  is  imperial,  they  offer  up  an  hundred  lions, 
an  hundred  eagles,  and  as  many  other  animals.  The  Greeks,  says 
this  author,  did  the  same  thing  when  they  were  infected  with  the 
plague."     ATHENjEus-adds,  that  they  took  the  same  course  after 
signal  victories,  for  which  he  cites  the  example  of  Conon  the  La- 
cedemonian captain;  who  offered,  says  he,  a  (rue  Hecatomb.     By 
this  phrase,  true  Hecatomb,  the  author  gives  us  to  understand,  that 
the  general  actually  offered  up  an  hundred  oxen,  for  sometimes 
the  name  Hecatomb  was  given  to  sacrifices,  where  the  hundred 
animals  were  of  another  species.     From  the  passage  in  CAPITO- 
LINUS,  we  may  refute  the  error  of  those  who  maintain,  that  the 
Hecatomb  was  so  called,  on  account  of  an  hundred  oxen  or  bulls 
which  were  therein  sacrificed.  HESYCHIUS,  and  several  other  au- 
thois,  confirm  what  CAVITOLINUS  says,  that  in  Hecatombs  they 
sacrificed  other  animals  as  well  as  oxen.    To  conclude,  this  kind 
of  sacrifice  was  of  very  great  antiquity,  since  there  is  mention  of 
it  in  HdMER,  who  says,  JVefitune  went  into  ^Ethiopia  to  receive 
the  sacrifice  of  the  Hecatomb,  of  bulls  and  lambs.  It  is  a  noted  story 
that  PYTHAGORAS  offered  a  Hecatomb  for  having  found  out  the 
demonstration  of  the  forty-seventh  proposition  in  the  first  Book  of 
EUCLID. 
======         We  must  not  omit  the  sacrifice  of  Agrotera, 

calleci  Jlgrolerx     wnere  tney  sacrificed  Jive  hundred  goats  every 

in  honour  of  Dia-    year  at  Athens,  in  honour  of  Diana,  surnamed 

nn. 

•-ii.._;,."  •'-•-    -•-•••     dgreierti,  whether  from  the  city  Agros  in  Attica, 

or,  according  to  RHOIUGINUS,  because  she  was  always  in  the 
field*.  XENOPHOH  refers  the  institution  of  this  sacrifice,  to  a  vow 
made  by  the  Athenians,  of  sacrificing  to  that  Goddess  as  many 
goats  as  they  should  kill  of  Persians;  but  the  slaughter  they  made 
of  them  was  so  great,  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  literally  to 
accomplisli  their  vow,  which  obliged  them  to  make  a  decree, 


CHAP.  II-  MACHINERY  OP  IDOLATRY.  175 

SEC.  V.  ITS    VICTIMS    OR    SACRIFICES. 

binding  themselves  to*bffer  up  every  year,  five  hundred  goats  in 
honour  of  her,  which  was  siill  kept  up  in  the  time  of  that  histo- 
rian. 

-  ••'    '  The  Taiiroboliiun  was  a  sacrifice  offered  to  the 

The    sacrifice  ,          r    .      /-^     ,      n-i  •  -c 

called  Tauroboli     mother  ot  the  Uods.    1  his  sacrifice  does  not  ap- 

um,  in  honour  of    peal<  [O  have  been  known  in  the  first  aees  of  Pa- 

Cijbele: 

=====    ganism;  since  the  oldest  inscription  that  mentions 

it,  which  was  found  at  Lions,  A.  D.  1704,  in  the  mountain  Four- 
•viere,  informs  us,  that  this  Tunrobolium  was  offered  under  the 
reign  of  Antoninus,  A.  D.  160.  But  then  it  was  very  late  before 
it  was  laid  aside;  the  last  inscription  of  it  that  we  know,  is  in  the 
reign  of  Valentinian  III.  We  have  hardly  ;>.ny  way  of  knowing 
this  sort  of  sacrifice,  but  from  inscriptions;  the  Ancients,  at  least 
such  of  them  as  are  extant,  being  quite  silent  upon  this  article; 
except  JULIUS  FIRMICUS,  a  Christian  author,  PRUDENTIUS,  and 
perhaps  LAMPRIDIUS,  who  speaking  of  Heliogabalus,  says,  he  was 
so  devoted  to  Cybele,  that  he  received  the  blood  of  the  bulls  that 
were  offered  up  to  that  Goddess.  This  sacrifice  was  offered  to 
Cybcle,for  the  consecration  of  the  high  priest,  for  the  expiation  of 
sins,  or  for  the  health  of  the  prince,  or  of  those  who  offered  it.  It 
was  a  sort  of  baptism,  of  blood,  which  they  thought  conveyed  a  spi- 
ritual regeneration,  and  whose  lites  and  ceremonies  were  different 
from  other  sacrifices.  But,  as  the  poet  PRUDENTIUS  has  left  a 
particular  description  of  the  Taurobolium,  I  shall,  for  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  reader,  give  it  here.  "  In  order,"  says  he,  "  to  conse- 
crate the  high  priest,  that  is,  to  initiate  him  into  the  Taurobolium, 
a  great  hole  was  made  in  the  earth,  into  which  he  entered,  dress- 
ed in  an  extraordinary  garb,  wearing  a  crown  of  gold)  with  a  toga 
of  silk  tucked  up  after  the  Sabine  fashion.  Above  the  hole  was  a 
sort  of  floor,  the  boards  of  which,  not  being  close  joined,  left  seve- 
ral chinks,  and  besides,  they  bored  several  Roles  therein:  then  they 
led  up  a  bull,  crowned  with  festoons,  upon  his  shoulders  fillets  co- 
vered with  flowers,  and  having  his  forehead  gilt-  Here  the  vie- 


176  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  11. 

ITS    VICTIMS    OR    SACRIFICES.  SEC.  V. 

tim's  throat  was  cut,  so  that  the  reeking  mood  came  streaming 
down  upon  the  floor,  which  being  made  like  a  sieve,  let  it  fall  into 
the  hole  as  it  were  like  a  shower,  which  the  priest  received  upon 
his  head,  upon  his  body,  and  upon  his  clothes.  Not  content  with 
this,  he  even  held  back  his  head  to  receive  the  blood  upon  his 
face,  he  let  it  fall  upon  both  cheeks-,  upon  his  ears,  his  lips,  and  his 
nostrils;  nay,  he  opened  his  mouth  ,to  bedew  his  tongue  with  it, 
and  some  of  it  he  swallowed.  When  all  the  blood  was  drained, 
the  victim  was  removed,  and  the  high  priest  came  out  of  the  hole. 
It  was  a  horrible  spectacle  to  see  him  in  this  plight!  his  head  covered 
over  <with  blood,  clotted  drops  sticking  to  his  beard,  and  all  his  gar- 
ments distained.  And  yet,  as  soon  as  he  appeared,  he  was  received 
ivith  a  general  congratulation,  and  not  daring  to  approach  his  per- 
son, they  adored  him  at  a  distance,  looking  upon  him  now  as  a  man 
quite  pure  and  sanctified.  They  who  had  thus  received  the  blood  of 
the  Taurobolium,  wore  their  stained  clothes  as  long  as  possible,  as  a 
sensible  sign  of  their  regeneration. 

•  It  was  not  always  for  private  persons  the  Tau- 

on  whatoccasions  r 

offered and    robohum  was  made:  this  ceremony  was  perlorm- 

Avhat     kind     of    ecj  for  t[ie  whole  body  of  citizens,  for  entire  pro- 
victims: 
=^====^^^=    vinces,  for  the   prosperity  of  the  empire,   &c. 

Sometimes  these  regenerations  were  for  twenty  years;  sometimes, 
in  fine,,  the  Archigallus,  or  the  high  priest  of  Cybcle,  appointed  it 
for  certain  occasions.  This  sacrifice  of  regeneration  did  not  al- 
ways require  the  victim  to  be  a  bull;  sometimes  the  victim  was  a 
ram,  and  then  it  was  called  Criobolium.  Sometimes  ?Fshe-goat, 
and  then  it  got  the  name  of  Egibolium,  or  JEgobolium.  Several  of 
the  learned  are  not  agreed  that  this  last  victim  was  used  in  the 
Tauroboles;  but  chiefly  the  bull,  and  sometimes  the  ram,  when 
they  would  do  honour  to  At.ys,  Cybele's  favorite,  to  whom  solely 
the  Taurobolium  was  consecrated;  although  Du  CHOUL,  CAMB- 
DEN,  SELDEN,  and  some  others,  are  of  opinion  that  it  was  like- 
wise offered  in  honour  of  Diana. 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF   IDOLATRY.  177 

SEC.  VI.  INSTRUMENTS  USED   IN  SACRIFICE. 

.  We  shall  end  t"his  SECTION  with  some  gene- 

erf  &c™it°^ru£    ral  observations,  in  relation  to  the  forms  of  pray- 
e£i-  er  used  upon  this  occasion.     As  they  believed 

the  Gods  themselves  had  endited  those  forms, 
they  were  considered  as  a  thing  so  essential,  that  if  he  to  whom 
the  pronouncing  of  them  belonged,  did  but  forget  or  transpose  a 
single  word,  they  were  persuaded  the  sacrifice  would  have  no  ef- 
fect. Thus,  when  Decius  the  consul  devoted  himself  to  the  in- 
fernal Gods,  and  with  himself  the  enemy's  troops,  he  cautioned 
the  pontif  Valerius  Maximus,  to  be  exact  in  pronouncing  the  form 
prescribed  upon  that  occasion.  There  were  even  overseers  ap- 
pointed to  take  care  that  nothing  of  the  formulary  was  forgot;  and 
that  they  might  hear  every  syllable  which  the  speaker  pronounc- 
ed, the  spectators  were  peremptorily  enjoined  silence.  Most 
of  those  forms,  if  JAMBLIC us  may  be  believed,  like  that  of  Theur- 
gy, (a  sort  of  magic  to  be  explained  afterwards)  were  composed 
at  first  in  the  Egyptian  or  Chaldean  language.  The  Greeks  and 
Romans,  in  translating  them,  kept  in  many  of  the  original  words 
of  those  foreign  languages,  so  that  they  frequently  became  a  sort 
of  barbarous  and  unintelligible  jargon,  but  still  the  more  barba- 
rous and  unintelligible,  the  more  sacred  and  revered. 


SECTION    SIXTH. 

INSTRUMENTS  USED  IJV  SACRIFICE,  Uc. 

AFTER,  having  treated  of  sacrifices  and  victims,  I  am  to  speak 
of  the  Sacred  Instruments;  but  as  it  is  hard  to  make  my  readers 
understand  the  description  of  them  without  figures,  they  will 
have  recourse,  to  the  antiquaries  who  have  given  prints  of  them. 
The  .fce-JTc,  was  a  li'ttle  chest  where  the  in- 


The  Acerra. 
===^=;    cense  was  put,  much  the  same  with  those  at 

present  used  by  the  Catholics.  Those  which  now  remain,  and  are 


178  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  If. 

INSTRUMENTS    USED    IN    SACRIFICE.  SEC.  VI. 

to  be  seen  in  the  cabinets  of  the  curious,  were  not  made  after 
one  model,  nor  of  the  same  metal.  This  chest  or  box  of  per- 
fumes, is  frequently  to  be  seen  upon  ancient  monuments,"  in  the 
hands  of  the  Camilli,  and  sometimes  in  the  hands  of  the  Vestals. 

•  The  Cencer,  or  Thurebulum,  was  known  to  the 

The  Cencer. 
===========    ancients,  but  there  is  now  no  representation  of 

it  to  be  seen  in  monuments.  The  Greeks  called  this  instrument 
Thymiaterion;  its  use  was  for  burning  the  incense  in  time  of  the 
sacrifice. 

1  The  Cochtearia*  a  species  of  spoon,  was  used 

TheCochlearia. 
S5==^=s    to  transfer  the  incense  from  the  Acerra  to  the 

Thurebulum. 

••  •  The  Priefcrriculum  was  a  vase  that  contained 

Prxferriculum. 

the  liquor  which  was  made  use  of  in  libations. 


•  The  Simfiulum  was  in  form  pretty  much  re- 

The  Simpulum. 

•       sembling  a  ladle.    According  to  FESTUS,  they 

used  it  in  sacrifices  for  making  the  libations  of  wine.  PLINY  calls 
this  instrument  Simfiutfium,  and  says  some  of  them  were  of  baked 
earth. 

======         The   Patera,   was   an   instrument   ordinarily 

The  Patera. 

i    round,   somewhat   hollow,   and    with  a  handle. 

The  use  of  it  was  to  receive  the  liquor  that  was  poured  from  the 
vase,  and  to  sprinkle  it  upon  the  victim;  which  VIRGIL  explains; 
"  The  beauteous  Dido,  holding  the  Patera  in  her  right  hand, 
pours  the  wine  between  the  horns  of  the  white  heifer." — This 
instrument  made  of  different  metals,  with  some  variety  of  form, 
is  that  which  has  suffered  least  from  the  injury  of  time,  and  there 
are  few  antiquaries  but  have  several  of  them. 

======         The  Malleus  or  Mallet,  as  also  the  Ax,  was 

Malleus  and  Ax. 

1=:===^    for  knocking  down  the  victim;  for  both  these 

sorts  of  instruments  are  to  be  seen  indifferently  in  the  hands  of 
sacrificers  upon  bas-reliefs. 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  179 


SEC.  VI.  INSTRUMENTS    USED    IN    SACRIFICE. 


"-    '  "  The  Secetfiita  serve  to  cut  the  throat  of  the 

The  Secespita. 

•  victim.   They  were  of  different  forms,  and  even 

some  of  them  in  a  case. — FESTUS  gives  a  just  description  of  it. 
It  was,  says  he,  tin  iron  knife,  \\ith  an  oblong  blade,  and  round 
haft  or  handle,  made  of  solid  ivory,  fastened  to  the  blade  with 
gold  and  silver,  and  studded  with  nails  of  Cyprian  brass,  which 
the  Flamincs,  the  Ftaminic  -virgins,  and  Pontifs  made  use  of  in 
sacrifice. 

=====         The  Dolabra  was  a  great  knife  which  served 

The  Dolabra. 
=^=^=    for  dismembering  the  victim. 

'  The  Ligula  or  Lingula,  a  sort  of  spatula,  or 

The  Lingula. 
•-  forceps,  which  the  Harusfiices  used  for  exploring 

the  entrails  of  the  victim. 

'"  The  Enclabris,  mentioned  by  MISSON,  in  his 

The  Enclabris. 
===^=====    travels  through  Italy,  was  the  table  upon  which 

the  victim  was  laid  for  the  convenience  of  examining  the  entrails, 
and  drawing  the  entrails  therefrom. 

1  The  Litures  or  Augural  Staff",  like  a  sort  of 

Augural  Staff. 

•  trumpet,  crooked  at  the  end,  was  held  by  the 

Augur  when  he  was  to  examine  the  flight  of  birds,  and  take  the 
omens. 

,  The  Discus  was  a  bason  whereon  the  flesh  of 

i  he  Discus. 

the  victim  was  laid. 


The   Olla  was  the  pot  in  which  the  priests 
boiled  the  portion  of  the  victim  that  was  allotted 

The   Candelabrum  was  a   species  of  candle- 
stick on  which  they  set  the  torches  that  burned 
during  the  sacrifice. 

'  The  Trumpet  was  a  ^ort  of  horn  or  clarion 

The  Trumpet. 
=====    which    they  sounded   at  the   ceremony  of  the 

Hecatombs  only. 


MACHINERY  OP  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 


INSTRUMENTS    USED    IN    SACRIFICE. 


-  The    double  Flute  was   played   during  every 
Double  Flute.  ' 

—  sacrifice  as  we  see  in  all  the  monuments  re- 

maining upon  the  subject;  and  a  player  always  accompanied  the 
victim  while  it  was  conducted  to  the  Altar. 

-  ,  ,         •      The  Urcolus  was  a  small  vase  of  brass,  silver, 
The  Urcolus. 

-  or  some  other  metal,  which  had  a  straight  neck, 

and  wide  mouth,  which  the  inferior  ministers  carried  for  washing 
the  priests  hands.     They  are  to  be  found  upon  antique  monu- 
ments, in  the  hands  of  this  sort  of  ministers. 
-..  •  •         Although  we  are  not  to  reckon  Tri/iods  in  the 

of  three  sorts.'""  nil™ber  of  utensils  used  at  sacrifices,  yet,  as  they 
i  had  them  frequently  in  the  Temples,  in  those 

especially  of  Aftollo,  and  sometimes  used  them  for  the  support  of 
the  sacred  vases,  it  is  necessary  to  say  something  oF  them  here. 
I  divide  them  into  three  kinds.  Under  theirs?,  I  include  those 
used  by  Pythia,  when  she  delivered  the  oracle  of  Afiollo  in  the 
temple  of  Delphos.  As  the  exhalation,  to  which  she  owed  her 
prophetic  inspiration,  issued  out  of  a  cave,  which  shall  be  spoken 
<if  in  the  history  of  oracles;  and  as  one  who  approached  too  near 
it  was  in  danger  01  falling  into  it,  as  sometimes  happened;  they 
contrived  a  three-footed  machine,  which  they  set  upon  the  rock, 
and  there  the  priestess  sat,  for  the  convenience  of  catching  the 
exhalations  without  any  danger.  It  is  of  this  sort  of  Trifiods  we 
read  so  much  in  ancient  history. — The  second  kind  comprehends 
whatever  stood  upon  three  feet,  such  as  Tases,  tables,  or  vhatever 
else  might  have  had  that  form;  and  of  these  there  were  a  vast 
quantity. — In  the  third,  I  reckon  ihe-vofive  Trifiods,  which  priests 
or  private  persons  dedicated  in  the  temple  of  Ajiollo.  HERODO- 
TUS speaks  of  a- golden  Tripod,  which  the  Greeks,  upon  their 
victory  over  the  Persians,  sent  to  Uelphos:  "  in  the  division  they 
made  of  the  spoils  of  the  enemy,  says  that  author,  they  set  the 
silver  by  itself,  took  a  tenth  of  it  for  the  God  who  was  worshipped 
at  Delphos;  and  of  this  portion  they  made  a  golden  Trifiod,  which 


CHAP.  H.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  181 

SEC.  VII.  THE    MINISTERS    OF    SACRIFICES. 

they  dedicated  to  him,  and  which  is  still  to  be  seen  upon  a  brazen 
three-headed  serpent."  From  these  last  words  it  appears,  that 
this  golden  Tripod  was  supported  by  one  of  another  kind,  repre- 
sented by  three  heads  of  a  serpent;  which  is  confirmed  by  PAU- 
SANIAS,  who  tells  us,  that  the  golden  Tripod  given  by  the  Greeks, 
after  the  battle  of  Plataea,  was  supported  by  a  serpent  of  brass.  It 
•will  not  be  expected,  I  should  include,  under  any  of  these  kinds 
of  Tripods,  those  of  HOMER,  which  walked  upon  their  own  legs 
to  the  assembly  of  the  Gods:  a  poetical  fiction,  to  give  us  the 
higher  notion  of  the  excellence  of  VULCAN'S  works. — Nothing  is 
more  common  in  the  cabinets  of  the  curious,  and  in  the  works  of 
antiquarians,  than  these  Tripods;  there  they  are  to  be  found  of 
all  sorts  of  figures,  and  some  even  pretty  singular.  The  most  of 
them  are  of  brass  or  of  bronze. 


SECTION    SEVENTH. 
THE  PRIESTS  JA'D  OTHER  MINISTERS  OF  SACRIFICES. 


AFTER  the  sacrifices  or  -victims,  and  the  instru- 
^  ments  which   were  used  in  offering   them    up, 


early  times.  something  must  be  said  of  the  Priests,  and  otht  r 

Ministers  of  the  same.  Asthereis  no  nation,  be 
it  ever  so  savage,  but  has  some  religion,  neither  is  there  any 
without  Ministers  to  preside  over  it;  but  in  this  SECTION  we  shall 
hardly  take  notice  of  any  except  those  of  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans —  First  then,  I  am  of  opinion,  that  in  earlier  times,  the 
Priesthood  belonged  to  the  head  of  the  family;  at  least  that  he  had 
the  privilege  of  sacrificing,  although  there  were  Priests  by  office. 
Thus  at  the  siege  of  Troy,  notwithstanding  Chryses  and  others 
were  Priests,  yet  we  see  in  HOMER,  the  kings,  the  princes,  and 
captains  of  the  army,  offering  sacrifices  upon  certain  occasions. 
Z 


182  MACHINERY  OP  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

THE    MINISTERS    OF    SACRIFICES.  SEC.   VII. 

When  they  were  to  choose  a  Priest,  an  ex- 
Defccis  of  per- 
son, &c.,    exclu-    animation  was  made  into  his  life,  his  manners, 

ofifce  fl  °m  Uiat  and  even  the  fluulilies  of  his  body,  as  he  was  to  be 
=====  free  from  all  unseemly  defects;  just  as  we  see  in 
the  sacred  writings,  those  who  had  but  one  eye,  the  lame,  the 
hump-backed,  Sec.,  were  excluded  from  the  Priesthood.  The 
Athenians  even  required  that  their  ministers  of  religion  should 
be  pure  and  chaste  in  their  lives,  and  their  Hierojihantis,  we  know, 
made  use  of  some  cold  herbs,  such  as  hemlock,  as  a  means  to 
obtain  the  gift  of  continence.  The  Priests  were  generally  allowed 
to  marry;  they  were  frequently  indeed  forbid  second  marriages, 
although  history  informs  us  that  this  rule  was  not  always  ob- 
served. 

The  Greeks  and  Romans  had  a  Hierarchy  of 
High-Priests,  Priests,  and  subaltern  Ministers, 
who  served  them  in  their  functions;  but  as  the 
Greeks  were  divided  into  several  states  independent  of  one  ano- 
ther, this  Hierarchy  was  not  every  where  uniform.  There  were 
even  cities,  such  as  Argos,  and  some  others,  where  women  pre- 
sided in  religion.  Nothing  is  more  celebrated  than  those 
Priestesses  of  Argos,  since  their  Priesthood  served  for  the  date 
of  public  events.  The  names  of  most  of  those  Priestesses  were 
lost,  till  M.  FOURMONT  the  younger,  in  his  travels  through 
Greece,  found  a  very  large  inscription,  containing  a  full  list  of 
them.  Minerva  Polias  the  patroness  of  Athens,  had  a  Priestess 
to  preside  over  her  worship;  and  PLUTARCH  in  his  morals, 
names  one  Lysimache,  who  exercised  that  function.  The  Peda- 
sians,  according  to  HERODOTUS,  had  also  a  Priestess  for  their 
Minerva.  There  was  likewise  one  for  Ceres  at  Catana,  for  Pallas 
at  Clazomensc,  8cc. — At  Athens,  the  jirchon  thought  himself 
honoured  by  the  title  of  Priest.  The  origin  of  the  Priesthood  of 
the  drchons,  according  to  DEMOSTHENES,  was  owing  to  this,  that 
anciently  the  kings  and  queens  of  Athens  were  the  high  Priests. 


MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  18S 

SEC.  VII.  THE    MINISTERS   OF    SACRIFICES. 

The  royalty  being  abolished,  they  continued  to  choose  a  king  and 
a  queen,  to  preside  over  sacred  things,  which  office  was  afterwards 
transferred  to  the  Archor.s,  and  their  ivives.  The  Ejiimelete  serv- 
ed the  king  in  sacred  matters;  and  women  named  Gereree,  assist- 
ed the  queen  in  sacred  matters,  to  the  number  of  fourteen.  The 
Cfryx  served  the  sacred  queen  likewise  in  the  most  secret  myste- 
ries of  religion.  There  was  also,  independent  of  all  these  myste- 
ries, a  pontiff,  or  rather  a  chief  Priest,  who  presided  in  sacred 
things.  Sometimes  he  was  only  for  one  city;  sometimes  for  a 
whole  province.  Oftentimes  too  he  was  vested  with  this  dignity 
for  life;  sometimes  for  only  five  years. — As  there  were  chief 
Priests,  so  we  find  chief  Priestesses;  for  among  the  Greeks,  wo- 
men as  often  as  men  were  admitted  to  minister  in  sacred  matters. 
These  chief  Priestesses  were  the  superintendents  of  the  Priest- 
esses, and  were  chosen  from  the  best  families:  But  of  all  the 
Pagan  Priestesses,  the  most  celebrated  was  the  Pythia,  of  whom 
we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  elsewhere. — If  we  may  give 
credit  to  POLLUX,  there  were  sixteen  sorts  of  Ministers  of  the 
temples;  the  Priests;  the  Temple  keepers,  or  jEditni;  those  who 
had  the  charge  of  holy  things;  the  Prophets;  the  Hypoprophets, 
or  under-Prophets,  who  publish  the  oracles;  the  Sacrificers; 
those  who  perform  the  rites  of  initiation;  the  Administrators  of 
holy  things;  the  Purifiers;  the  Divines,  or  inspired;  the  Sortilegi; 
the  Fortune-tellers;  the  Cresmothetae,  or  those  who  gave  forth 
the  lots  to  be  drawn;  the  Saints  or  Devotees;  the  Thuriferi,  or 
incense-bearers;  the  Hyparetae;  and  the  Servitors,  or  Camilli. 
The  same  author  next  remarks,  that  the  same  names  were  given 
to  different  orders  of  Priestesses,  in  places  where  the  women 
ministered  in  the  temples;  and  the  Priestess  of^fiolto  at  Delphos, 
had  the  name  of  Pythia  by  way  of  eminence.  He  might  have  ad- 
ded further,  that  at  Clazomenae  the  Priestess  of  Pallas  was 
named  Hesychia,  and  that  of  Bacchus,  Thyas;  and  in  Crete,  that 
of  Cybele,  Melissa.  He  might  likewise  have  remarked,  that 


184  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP  If. 

THE    MINISTERS    OF    SACRIFICES.  SEC.  VII. 

among  the  Athenians,  the  subaltern  Ministers  were  styled  Para- 
sili;  that  not  being  then  a  name  of  reproach,  as  it  is  at  present. 
The  acceptation  of  this  word,  in  the  sense  here  taken,  is  derived 
from  an  inscription  at  Athens,  where  it  is  said,  that  of  two  bulls 
offered  it)  sacrifice,  one  part  should  be  reserved  for  the  games, 
the  other  distributed  among  the  Priests  and  Parasites.  The 
principal  function  of  these  Parasites,  who  had  a  place  among  the 
chief  magistrates,  was  to  choose  the  wheat  allotted  for  the  sacri- 
fices.— There  was  likewise  another  sort  of  people  set  apart  for 
service  in  the  sacrifices.  These  were  the  Ceryces  or  the  Cryers, 
whose  office  was  to  make  public  proclamation  of  things,  whether 
civil  or  sacred.  Thus,  according  to  ATHENEUS,  two  of  them  were 
to  be  chosen;  and  accordingly  we  find  the  Ceryces  are  two  in 
number  in  some  Athenian  inscriptions,  one  for  the  Areopagus, 
the  other  for  the  drchon.  They  were  to  be  taken  from  the  Athe- 
nian family;  which,  according  to  ISOCRATES,  bore  the  name  of 
Ceryce,  from  one  CVrz/r,  the  son  -of  Mercury,  and  Pandrosos, 
daughter  of  Cecrops. — The  Neocori  had  offices  corresponding  to 
those  of  the  Sacristans  of  our  churches:  accordingly  it  was  their 
business  to  adorn  the  temples,  and  keep  in  order  the  vases  and 
utensils  that  were  used  in  the  ceremonies  of  religion.  THEODO- 
RET  is  the  only  one  who  mentions  two  other  functions  of  the 
Neocori:  the  one  to  stand  at  the  gate  of  the  temples  to  sprinkle 
holy  water  for  purification  of  those  who  were  entering  into  them; 
the  other,  to  throw  some  of  the  same  water  upon  the  meat  served 
up  at  the  emperor's  table.  JULIAN  the  apostate,  says  this  author, 
went  into  the  temple  of  public  Genius  in  the  city  of  Antioch;  and 
the  JVeocori  standing  at  the  two  sides  of  the  temple  gate,  sprin- 
kled holy  water  upon  those  who  were  entering,  pretending  there- 
by to  give  them  absolution.  This  office  became  very  considera- 
ble; for  the  jVeocori,  who  at  first  were  employed  only  in  servile 
duties,  were  afterwards  raised  to  the  superior  station  of  Ministers 
and  High-Priests,  who  sacrificed  for  the  life  of  the  emperor.  We 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  185 

SEC.   VII.  THE    MINISTERS    OF    SACRIFICES. 

find  on  medals,  where  the  n^me  of  JVeocorus  often  occurs,  that 
also  ofPrylanis,  which  was  sometimes  granted  to  them,  with  that 
of  Agorwthetes,  or  dispenser  of  prizes  at  the  public  games.  Even 
cities,  and  Ephesus  among  the  first,  according  to  VAN-DALE, 
took  the  name  of  Neocorus;  upon  which  the  reader  may  consult 
VAILLANT  and  the  other  antiquaries. 

"  Rome,  at  first,  being  nothing  but  an  assem- 

The    Roman     ,  ,  c 

Hierarchy;  blage  ot  renegadoes  and  fugitives,  whom  Romu- 

"  lus  had  drawn  together,  that  piince  had  but  little 

thought  about  religion,  and  having  borrowed  it,  such  as  it  was, 
from  the  Albans,  and  other  neighbouring  people,  it  was,  in  those 
first  ages,  exceedingly  plain  and  simple.  Their  temples  and  cha- 
pels had  neither  ornaments  nor  statues;  for  according  to  PLU- 
TARCH, there  passed  If  1  years  before  any  of  them  were  there  to 
be  seen:  sacrifices  offered  without  apparatus,  constituted  the 
whole  ceremonial  of  this  infant  city.  Yet  we  find  in  DIONYSIUS 
of  Halicarnassus,  that  Romulus  having  divided  Rome  into  thirty 
Curia,  instituted  two  Priests  for  each,  which  made  sixty  in  all. 
Numa  Pompllius,  who  was  more  taken  up  about  religion  than 
warlike  affairs,  made  several  alterations  in  the  Roman  Hierarchy, 
and  so  did  some  of  his  successors,  as  we  may  see  in  TITUS  Li- 
,  vius,  DIONYSIUS  of  Halicarnassus,  and  in  DION.  I  shall  deliver 

what  I  think  myself  best  warranted  to  say  upon  this  head The 

Priests  of  Romulus's  institution,  were  to  be  at  least  fifty  years  of 
age,  men  of  distinguished  morals  and  birth,  capable  of  maintain- 
ing themselves  with  honour,  and  free  from  all  corporeal  blemish- 
es: so  true  it  is,  that  even  in  the  grossest  religions,  care  has  al- 
ways been  taken  to  admit  none  for  ministers,  and  offer  up  nothing 
in  sacrifice,  but  what  was  most  peifect,  t,nd  best  adapted  to  the 
honour  of  the  Divinity.  As,  in  the  Ministry  of  those  Priests 
there  were  some  things  that  could  only  be  performed  by  women, 
and  others,  wherein  their  assistance  was  necessary,  the  wives  and 
daughters  of  the  Priests  were  employed  in  those  pieces  of  ser- 


186  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

THE    MINISTERS    OF    SACRIFICES.  SF.C.VII. 

vice.  The  Priesthood  at  first  was  engrossed  by  the  Patrician,?; 
but  the  Peofile  disliking  that  preference,  prevailed  to  have  the 
Priesthood  divided  between  the  Senate  and  themselves;  and  not 
only  so,  but  under  the  tribuneship  of  Cn.  Domitius,  got  into  their 
own  hands  the  privilege  of  choosing  the  Priests,  which  was  for- 
merly reserved  for  the  College  of  Patricians;  which  was  again 
brought  under  a  new  regulation,  that  the  College  should  be  the 
electors,  and  the  people  confirm  that  election.  In  fine,  after  some 
other  alterations,  which  it  would  be  needless  to  relate,  the  empe- 
rors arrogated  the  right  of  choosing  the  Priests,  and  became 
themselves  the  high  Priests;  which  began  in  Julius  Caesar. 
When  the  election  of  the  Priest,  mude  by  the  college  to  whom  that 
privilege  belonged,  was  confirmed  by  the  people,  they  proceeded 
to  the  inauguration,  which,  like  the  induction  of  ecclesiastical 
livings,  was  performed  with  ceremony,  and  concluded  with  an 
entertainment  given  by  the  new  Priests.  From  that  moment, 
they  assumed  the  gown,  called  the  Toga  Pratexta,  and  the  orna- 
ment of  the  head,  termed  Afiex,  Galerus,  Albo-Galerus,  which 
consisted  in  a  sort  of  white  bonnet,  and  had  frequently  the  addi- 
tion of  a  crown  above — The  Priests  in  Rome  enjoyed  several  pri- 
vileges, and  they  might  assist  in  the  Senate;  but  this  privilege 
was  afterwards  taken  from  them.  They  were  exempt  from  btir- 
thensome  offices  in  the  state,  and  were  exonerated  from  military 
service.  They  had  ordinarily  a  torch  and  a  branch  of  laurel  car- 
ried before  them;  and  they  were  allowed  to  ride  up  to  the  capitol 
in  a  chariot  called  carjientum.  There  were  Priests  whose  priest- 
hood was  for  life;  others,  who  had  it  taken  from  them;  but  the 
Augurs  could  not  be  deposed  upon  any  account  whatsoever. 
Every  order  of  Priests  had  its  particular  college,  and  revenues  for 
the  sacrifices.  As  in  provinces,  the  Priests  were  obliged  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  the  public  games,  which  making  the  office  fre- 
quently chargeable,  nobody  was  compelled  to  accept  of  it. 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  187 


THE    MINISTERS    OF    SACRIFICES. 


ofwh    hth   P  ^n    l'ie  OIt'er    °f  tne  K°man   Hierarchy,  the 

tiff's  were  the  first  Pontiffs  were  the/r^.  Of  them,  there  were  but 
in  rank; 

==5=5=  four  at  first;  but  that  number  being  afterwards 

augmented,  they  distinguished  them  into  Pontiffs  Major,   and 
Pontiffs  Minor;  both  of  them  subject  to  the  Pontifex  Maximus, 
or   High-Priest;    whose  sole    authority   was  so  great,    that   the 
Emperors  did  not  think  the  office  unworthy  of  them,  as  has  been 
said.  The  High-Priest  being  master  of  all  the  ceremonies  of  re- 
ligion, and  a  member  of  the  first  college,  was  extremely  reverenc- 
ed.    His  chariot,  named   Thensa,  was  distinguished  from  that  of 
the  other  Priests,  as  well  as  his  garb,  and  the  rest  of  his  equipage. 
He  was  not  allowed  to  go  out  of  Italy.    As  it  was  a  sort  of  profa- 
nation for  him  to  see  a  dead  body,  when  he  assisted  at  funerals, 
they  put  a  veil  between  him  and  the  funeral-bed.  This  particular 
we  have  from  SENECA,  better  informed  therein  than  DION,  who, 
speaking  of  Agrippa's  funeral  obsequies,  at  which  Augustus  the 
High-Priest  was  present,  says,  he  can  give  no  reason  why  they  put 
a  veil  between  the  emperor  and  the  funeral-bed;  and  that  it  is  an 
error  to  believe  the  High-Priest  was  not  permitted  to  look  upon 
a  dead  body.  Perhaps  it  will  be  objected  to  me,  that  Caesar,  when 
High-Priest,  went  and  made  war  in  Gaul;  whence  I  should  seem 
to  be  mistaken,  in  alleging  that  it  was  not  permitted  to  one  in  that 
office  to  go  out  of  Italy.    But  we  may  answer,  1st,  That  there  are 
occasions  when  the  laws,  which  cannot  foresee  every  thing,  are 
not  observed.    2d,  That  Caesar's  example  proves  nothing,  since 
he  regarded  laws  no  further  than  they  struck  in  with  his  ambi- 
tion. 
======         Next  to  the  Pontifex  Maximus  were  the  Fla- 

vvere  Flamines—    n'^nes'  wno  werc  atfirst  out  three  in  number,  in- 

whowere,V(yv«    stituted,  according  to  PLUTARCH,  by  Romulus: 
and  Minores;  .  » 

•    or  rather,  according  to  Livy,  by  Numa  Pompi- 

lius.     They  were,  the  Fiamen  Dialia  or  ol  Jupiter,  the  Flamen 
Martialis  or  of  Mars,  and  the  Flamen  Quirinalits  or  of  Qw'rinus. 


188  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  If. 

THE    MINISTERS    OF    SACRIFICES.  SEC.  VII. 

They  were  chosen  by  the  people,  and  the  High- Priest  confirmed 
their  election.  As  those  three  Flamines  were  in  high  esteem, 
and  enjoyed  several  prhileges,  though  they  were  not  of  the  order 
of  Pontiffs,  yet  they  took  place  among  them  in  affairs  of  conse- 
quence. This  order  was  afterwards  augmented  to  the  number  of 
Jifteen;  three  of  whom  were  taken  from  the  Senatorian  order,  and 
were  called  Flamines  Majores,  or  the  superior  Flamens;  and  the 
other  twelve,  named  Flamines  Minores,  or  the  inferior  Flamens, 
were  chosen  from  among  the  Plebeians.  Every  Flamen  was  des- 
tined to  the  particular  service  of  one  Divinity;  and  his  priesthood 
endured  for  life,  although  for  weighty  reasons  he  might  be  de- 
posed, which  was  expressed  by  these  words,  Flaminio  abire,as  if 
to  say,  lay  down  the  Flamemhifi.  The  inferior  Flamens,  taken 
from  the  Plebeians,  were  less  regarded,  nor  was  the  number  of 
them  always  restrained  to  twelve.  The  bare  naming  them  is 
enough  to  let  us  know  their  functions.  The  Flamen  Carmentalis 
was  the  Priest  of  the  Goddess  Carmenta.  The  Flamen  Falacus, 
was  so  called,  from  an  ancient  God  of  that  name.  The  Flamen 
who  was  surnamed  Floralis,  took  the  title  from  the  Goddess  Flora; 
Furinalis  from  Furina,  mentioned  by  VARRO;  Laurentalis  from 
Acca  Laurentia;  Lucinalis  from  Lucina;  Palatinalis  from  the  God- 
dess Palaiina,  the  protectress  of  the  Palatium;  Pomonalis  from 
Pomona;  Virbialis  from  Virbius  or  Hifipolytus;  Volcanalis  from 
Vulcan;  Volturnalis  from  the  God  of  the  liver  Vulturnus.  The 
deified  emperors  had  likewise  their  Flamens.  Thus  we  find  in 
inscriptions,  a  Priest  of  Augustus,  Flamen  Augustalis;  a  Priest  of 
Csesar,  Flamen  Cxsaris;  and  Marc  Antony  would  needs  assume 
that  dignity  out  of  flattery;  a  Priest  of  the  emperor  Claudius, 
Flamen  Claudii;  and  one  of  Hadrian,  Flamen  Hadrianalis.  In  fine, 
there  was  a  Flamen  who  seems  to  have  been  concerned  in  the 
service  of  all  the  Gods,  and  was  named  Flamen  Divorum  omnium  t 
the  Priest  of  all  the  Gods;  which  however,  was  contrary  to  the  old 
constitutions.  FESTUS  will  have  it,  that  the  wives  of  the  Flamines 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OP  IDOLATRY.  189 

SEC.  VII.  THE    MINISTERS    OF    SACRIFICES. 

JDiales  were  priestesses,  and  had  the  name  of  Fiaminicx^  and  ac- 
cording to  AULUS  GELLIUS,  they  enjoyed  the  same  privileges 
as  their  husbands,  and  were  under  the  same  restrictions. 

•  To  all  these  Ministers  we  may  add,  the  Epu- 

lastly,  theEpulo-     ,  ,  •!!_/¥•         c  r»  • 

nes;— and    those    ^ones»  w^o  likewise  exercised  the  office  of  Priest 

who  kept  the  amOng  the  Romans.  The  Pontiffs  not  having 
Si  byline  Books. 

•"    '      •    • .  leisure  to  attend  upon  all  the  Sacrifices  perform- 

ed at  Rome,  on  account  of  the  infinite  number  of  Gods  who 
were  honoured  there,  instituted  three  Ministers  whom  they  called 
Epulones,  or  the  Triumviri  Epulonum;  because  their  business 
was  to  prepare  the  sacred  banquets  at  the  solemn  games,  as  we 
learn  from  FKSTUS,  and  to  set  up  the  couches  on  which  they  lay 
at  table.  These  feas'ts,  which  were  for  none  but  the  Gods,  and 
especially  for  Jupiter,  went  by  the  name  of  Lectisternia,  as  we 
shall  observe  in  the  article  of  Festivals.  The  Epulones  had  the 
privilege  of  wearing  the  robe  bordered  with  purple,  like  the  Pon- 
tiffs, as  LIVY  tells  us.  The  number  of  these  Ministers  was  aug- 
mented first  by  two,  then  by  tivo  more,  and  at  last  in  the  time  of 
Julius  Caesar's  pontificate,  they  were  increased  to  ten.  Hence 
the  Triumviri,  the  Quintumviri,  the  Septemviri,  and  the  Decemviri 
Epulonum,  we  find  mentioned  in  the  Roman  history. — Among 
other  privileges  granted  to  the  Epulones,  the  most  considerable 
was,  that  they  were  not  obliged  to  give  their  daughters  to  be  ~v es- 
tate, and  this  they  had  in  common  with  the  other  Ministers,  as  we 
learn  from  AULUS  GELLIUS. — From  TITUS  LIVIUS  we  learn  the 
date  of  the  first  institution  of  the  Epulones,  it  was  in  the  year  of 
Rome  558,  under  the  Consulship  of  L.  Furius  Purpureo,  and  of 
M.  Claudius  Marcellns;  so  that  it  is  surprising  how  POMPONIUS 
LJETUS  should  say,  that  the  date  of  this  early  institution  cannot  be 
discovered — At  present  I  shall  say  but  Ijttle  of  the  Priests  insti- 
tuted for  keeping  the  Sibylinc  Books,  reserving  a  fuller  account  of 
them  for  the  article  of  the  Sibyls.  Tarquin  the  proud,  having 
2  A 


190  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

THE    MINISTERS   OF    SACRIFICES.  SEC.  VII. 

bought  these  books,  instituted  two  Ministers  to  keep.them  care- 
fully: in  the  year  of  the  city  388,  they  created  eight  others;  and 
last  of  all  there  was  an  addition  ofjfive  more,  in  the  time  of  Sylla, 
•which  made  Jiftccn  in  all.  This  Ministry,  highly  respected  at 
Rome,  lasted  till  the  time  of  Theodosius,  or  the  380th  year  of  the 
Christian  ^Era. 

•"  I  must  say  something  of  the  three  sorts  of 

common  To  "the  P''iests  wno  were  common  to  the  Romans  and 
Greeks  and  Ro-  the  Greeks.  The  jfirst  are  those  of  Cybele:  the 
Those  of  Cybele.  second  those  of  Mijthras:  the  third  those  of  the 
."  Orgies,  or  mysteries  of  Bacchus.—  1st,  Nothing 

in  antiquity  is  more  famous,  nor  at  the  same  time  more  con- 
temptible than  the  Priests  of  Cybele,  who  were  called  Galli  or  Ar- 
ehigalli,  from  a  river  in  Phrygia,  named  Gallus.  VAN-DALE  con- 
siders these  Galli)  and  justly  too,  as  so  many  strollers,  -vagrants,, 
and  quacks*  who  went  strolling  about  from  town  to  town,  playing 
upon  cymbals  and  crotala,  wearing  on  their  breasts  small  images  of 
the  mother  of  the  Gods,  in  order  to  raise  charitable  contributions; 
the  very  dregs  of  the  people,  according  to  APULEIUS;  a  sect  of 
furious  fanatics,  and  infamously  debauched.  We  agree  with  that 
learned  author  in  the  character  which  he  draws  of  those  Minis- 
ters; but  we  cannot  be  of  his  mind,  when  he  says,  that  notwith- 
standing their  being  consecrated  to  the  service  of  Cybele,  yet  they 
were  not  in  the  quality  of  Priests,  for  their  priesthood  is  a  thing 
undeniable.  PLINY,  APULEIUS,  and  SUIDAS  expressly  say  they 
were  Priests,  and  give  them  that  title;  and  LUCIAN,  who  de- 
scribes the  ceremony  of  their  initiation,  leaves  no  room  to  doubt 
of  it.  We  shall  not  be  surprised  to  find  how  those  wretched  Priests 
are  represented  by  CLEMEXS  of  Alexandria,  LACTANTIUS,  CHUT- 
SOSTOM,  and  ST.  AUGUSTINE,  since  profane  authors  have  had  an 
equal  contempt  for  them.  The  law  however  had  provided  for 
their  subsistence,  since,  according  to  CICERO,  it  marked  out  the 
days  when  they  had  permission  to  ask  alms,  and  in  which  none 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  191 

SEC.  VII.  THE    MINISTERS   OF    SACRIFICES. 

else  were  allowed  to  go  a  begging.  This  begging,  authorised  by 
law,  probably  came  about  every  month;  and  those  Priests  got  the 
name  of  Menagyrtie  and  Metragyrtx,  because  it  was  for  the  mo- 
ther of  the  Gods  they  collected  those  alms.  To  these  names, 
they  added,  by  way  of  derision  that  of  Jlgijrtx,  which  imports 
Jugglers  and  dealers  in  legerdemain  for  money.  CLEMENS  of 
Alexandria  adds  to  the  qualifications  of  those  Galli,  that  of  for- 
tune-teller and  sooth-sayer;  because,  in'reality,  they  pretended  to 
prediction.  They  had  always  old  women  in  their  retinue,  who 
passed  for  sorceresses.  PLUTARCH,  who  speaks  of  the  verses 
which  they  sung,  says,  they  had  brought  the  poetry  of  Oracles 
into  such  contempt,  that  by  their  means  the  true  Oracles  of  the 
Trifios,  that  is  to  say,  of  Delphos,  were  quite  neglected.  The 
same  author  adds,  that  they  delivered  their  oracles  extempore, 
or  drew  them  by  lot  from  certain  books  they  carried  with  them, 
and  sold  the'ir  wretched  predictions  to  silly  women,  who  were 
charmed  with  the  cadence  of  their  verses. — To  this  description 
of  the  Galli,  we  may  add  what  LUCIAN  informs  us  of  the  great 
Festival  that  was  celebrated  in  Syria,  and  of  the  madness  into 
which  the  initiation  of  those  pitiful  Ministers  threw  them.  "  To 
this  solemnity,  says  he,  numbers  of  Galli  repair  to  celebrate  their 
mysteries.  They  slash  their  elbows,  and  scourge  one  another's 
backs  with  whips.  The  gang  about  them  play  on  the  flute  and 
dulcimer;  while  others,  seized  with  a  divine  enthusiasm,  sing 
songs,  which  they  compose  extemporaneously.  It  is  on  that  day, 
adds  LUCIAN,  that  the  Galli  are  initiated.  As  the  sound  of  the 
flute  infuses  into  the  by-standers  a  sort  of  madness,  the  young 
man,  who  is  to  be  initiated,  throws  off  his  clothes,  and  raising 
loud  shrieks,  comes  into  the  midst  of  the  gang  that  is  without  the 
temple,  draws  his  sword,  and  makes  an  ejunuch  of  himself;  then 
running  through  the  city,  holding  in  his  hand  the  marks  of  his 
castration,  throws  them  into  a  house  where  he  takes  on  a  woman's 
dress.  This  mutilation  was  performed  in  other  places,  according 


192  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATUV  CHAP.   U. 

THE    MINISTERS    OF    SACRIFICES.  SEC.  VII. 

• 

to  PLINY,  with  a  shred  or  fragment  of  a  pot  of  Samian  earth;  and 
consequently  the  operation  was  both  more  lingering  and  more 
painful.  It  is  well  known,  that  it  was  in  honour  of  -%s,  Cybele's 
favourite,  that  this  barbarity  was  practised,  whereof  he  himself 
had  given  the  precedent.  But  let  us  draw  the  curtain  over  this 
infamous  scene,  and  say  only  a  word  or  two  of  the  High-Priest  of 
this  worthless  Crew.  This  head  of  theirs  was  named  jirchigallus, 
and  was  ordinarily  of  a  considerable  family;  at  least  we  read  in 
GRUTER,  an  inscription  of  the  Archigallus^  Camerius  Crescius, 
\vho  had  in  his  retinue  a  great  number  of  bondmen  and  enfran- 
chised slaves. — Besides  those  Galli  and  Archigalli,  Cybcle  had 
other  Priests  who  were  not  emasculated;  and  Priestesses,  whose 
names  are  to  be  met  with  in  GRUTER.  Among  those  Priestesses, 
\ve  find  a  lady  named  Laberia  Falicla,  who  was  High-Priestess  to 
the  mother  of  the  Gods;  that  is,  who  presided  over  the  rest  of  the 
Priestesses,  as  the  Archigallus  did  over  the  Galli. — We  may  re- 
mark, that  all  the  Priests  and  Priestesses  of  the  mother  of  the 
Gods,  at  first  instituted  in  Phrygia,  were  afterwards  propagated 
through  Greece,  and  through  the  Roman  empire,  in  the  very 
time  of  the  republic. 

—  '  2d,  As  for  the  Priests  of  Mithras,  whose  wor- 

*of  Mithras.™  *  S^'P  was  brought  to  Rome,  if  we  believe  PLU- 
i"~-  TARCH,  in  the  time  of  Pompey,  and  later,  ac- 

cording to  VAN-DALE,  I  shall  say  but  little,  because  I  shall  give 
the  history  of  that  God  at  full  length.  I  shall  only  observe  at  pre- 
sent, that  Mithras  had  a  Minister  who  was  called  the  father  of 
the  sacred  mysteries,  Pater  Sacrtrutnj  that  those  Priests  were 
surnamed  Lions,  and  '.he  Priestesses  Hyxnte^  according  to  POR- 
PHYRY. Hence  the  mysteries  of  Mithras  were  termed  Leontica 
and  Patrica,  because  of  the  Patres  who  presided  there:  that-other 
Ministers  of  that  God  were  called  Coraccs,  ravens;  or  Hierocora- 
c«?»,  sacred  ravens;  or  Heliuci,  from  the  Sun,  whom  Mithras  re- 
presented. In  fine,  that  those  who  were  to  be  initiated  in  the  mys- 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  193 

,•  * 

SEC.   VIII.  THE    VESTAL    VIRGIN'S. 

teries  of  that  God,  were  obliged  to  submit  to  expiations,  equally 
lingering  and  painful,  as  we  shall  shew  in  its  proper  place. 
•.'  Lastly,  As  the  Greets  and    Romans   equally 

M^lwJteSS    celebrated -the  high   mysteries  of  Bacchus,  or 
of  Bacchus.  the  Orgies,  I  may  rank  in  this  common   class, 

the  Priests  and  Priestesses  who  presided  there- 
in; but  as  there  will  be  occasion  to  consider  them  in  the  history 
of  those  mysteries,  I  shall  only  say  here,  that  those  Ministers 
bore  different  names,  since  we  find  in  the  ancients,  th-at  the  Bac~ 
chanais  were  called  Bacche,  M&nades,  Bas&arides,  THyades,  Mi* 
mallonides,  Edonides,  Eleides,  i^c.,  all  of  them  names  derived 
either  from  their  manner  of  yelling,  or  from  their  fury  and  mad- 
ness.— We  shall  here  make  a  transient  remark,  that  there  were 
sacerdotal  families,  out  of  which  Priests  were  to  be  taken;  as  at 
Athens,  those  of  the  Eumolfiidte,  for  the  worship  of  Ceres  and 
the  Eleusinian  mysteries;  and  at  Rome  those  of  1'inarii  and  -Po- 
titii  for  that  of  Hercules. 


SECTION   EIGHTH. 
THE  VESTAL  VIRGINS. 

WE  will  now  say  a  few  words  about  a  pecu- 
The  object,  or i-     ,.  r   T,  .  „,   .        . 

gin, qualifications  liar  class  of  Priestesses,  who  officiated  among 
and  service,  of  the  Romans,  in  preserving  the  sacred  Fire,  in 
these  Priestesses: 

^^=======  honour  of  a  Goddess  of  which  she  was  the  sym- 
bol, called  the  younger  Vesta,  in  contradistinction  from  the  God- 
dess of  that  name,  who  was  the  symbol  of  the  Earth.  .Eneas  is 
supposed  to  have  been  the  founder  of  this- order  of  Priestesses  in 
Italy,  which  Numa  Pompilius  re-established.  This  monarch  fixed 
their  number  at  four,  to  which  Tarquin  added  two.  They  were 
always  chosen  by  the  monarchs,  but  alter  the  expulsion  of  the 
Tarquins,  the  high  priest  was  entrusted  with  the  care  of  them. 


194  MACHINERY  OP  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

THE   VESTAL   VIRGINS.  SEC.  VIII. 

As  they  were  to  he  virgins,  they  were  chosen  young,  from  the 
age  of  six  to  len;  and  if  there  was  not  a  sufficient  number  that 
presented  themselves  as  candidates  for  the  office,  twenty  virgins 
were  selected,  and  they  upon  whom  the  lot  fell  were  obliged  to 
become  priestesses.  Plebeians  as  well  as  Pat.ricia7is  were  permit- 
ted to  propose  themselves,  but  it  was  required  that  they  should 
be  born  of  a  good  family,  and  be  without  blemish  or  deformity  in 
every  part  of  their  body.  For  thirty  years  they  weve  to  remain  in 
the  greatest  continence;  the  ten  first  years  were  spent  in  learning 
the  studies  of  the  order,  the  ten  following  were  employed  in  dis- 
charging them  with  fidelity  and  sanclity,  and  the  ten  last  in  in- 
structing such  as  had  entered  the  noviciate.  When  the  thirty 
years  were  elapsed,  they  were  permitted  to  marry,' or  if  they  still 
preferred  celibacy,  they  waited  upon  the  rest  of  the  Vestals.  As 
soon  as  a  Vestal  was  initiated,  her  head  was  shaved  to  intimate 
the  liberty  of  her  person,  as  she  was  then  free  from  the  shackles 
of  parental  authority,  and  she  was  permitted  to  dispose  of  her 
possessions  as  she  pleased. 

=======  When  the  sacred  Fire  chanced   to  expire 

the     punishment      ,  ,     ,  c   ,      ,, 

for  neglect  of  the     through  tne  neglect  of  the  Vestals,  it  was  deem- 

sacred  Fire,  Pal-    ecj  a  prognostic  of  great  calamities  to  the  state; 
ladium,   &c.,  un- 
der their  care:         and  the  offender   was  punished  for  her  negli- 

•===~=™="i=i  gence,  with  being  severely  scourged  by  the  high 
priest.  In  such  a  case  all  was  consternation  at  Rome;  till  this 
Fire  was  rekindled  with  the  rays  of  the  Sun  drawn  to  a  focus  by- 
glasses.— In  the  temple  of  Vesta  were  preserved  besides  the  sa- 
cred Fire,  several  other  things  which  ^Eneas  had  brought  from 
Phrygia:  such  as  the  Palladium  of  Troy;  with  the  Gods  Penates; 
and  some  other  images  of  the  Samothracian  Gods  which  Darda- 
nus  had  brought  into  Phrygia,  and  which  the  religious  ^Eneas 
took  care  to  preserve  in  the  midst  of  storms.  It  was  to  save  these 
sacred  de/iosita,  judged  so  necessary  to  the  preservation  of  the 
city,  that  Cecilius  Metellus  threw  himself  into  the  midst  of  the 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  195 

SEC.    VIII.  THE     VESTAL    VIRGINS. 

flames,  when  the  temple  of  the  Vestals  was  on  fire,  and  those 
timorous  priestesses  fled;  for  which  he  was  honoured  with  a  sta- 
tue in  the  capitol,  with  a  glorious  inscription.  This  temple  was 
built  by  Numa,  Romulus  never  having  dared,  whatever  devotion 
he  had  for  the  Goddess,  to  erect  one  for  fear  of  renewing  the 
memory  of  his  mother's  crime,  and  of  authorising  by  her  exam- 
ple the  licentiousness  of  other  Vestals;  contenting  himself  as  we 
learn  from  DIONYSIUS  of  Halicarnassus,  with  building  small 
chapels  to  Vesta  in  each  Tribe. 

'         The  privileges  of  the  Vestals  were  great:  they 
their  privileges: 
.  had  the  most  honourable  seals  at  public  games 

and  festivals;  a  lie  tor  with  the  fasces  always  preceded  them  when 
they  walked  in  public;  they  were  carried  in  chariots  when  they 
pleased;  and  they  had  the  power  oFflardoning  criminals  when  led 
to  execution,  if  they  declared  that  their  meeting  was  accidental. 
Their  declarations,  in  trials,  were  received  without  the  formality 
of  an  oath;  they  were  chosen  as  arbiters  in  causes  of  moment) 
and  in  the  execution  of  wills;  and  so  gyeat  was  the  deference 
paid  them  by  the  magistrates,  as  well  as  by  the  people,  that  the 
consuls  themselves  made  way  for  them,  and  bowed  their  fasces 
when  they  passed  before  them.  To  insult  them  was  a  capital 
crime,  and  whoever  attempted  to  violate  their  chastity  was  beaten 
to  death  with  scourges.  If  any  of  them  died  while  in  office  their 
body  was  buried  within  the  walls  of  the  city — an  honour  granted 
to  but  few. 

.-  Such    of  the   Vestals   as   proved  incontinent 

their  restrictions; 
.  were  punished  in  the   most   rigorous   manner. 

Numa  ordered  them  to  be  stoned,  but  Tarquin  the  elder  dug  a 
large  cavity  in  the  earth,  where  a  bed  was  placed  with  a  little 
bread,  wine,  water,  and  oil,  and  a  lighted  lamp,  and  the  guilty 
Vestal  was  stripped  of  the  habit  of  her  order,  and  compelled  to 
descend  into  the  subterraneous  ca-uitit,  which  was  immediately 
shut,  and  she  was  left  to  die  through  hunger.  Few  of  the  Vestals 


196  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  It. 

THE    S1I1YLS.  SEC.  IX. 

were  guilty  of  incontinence-,  and  for  the  space  of  one  thousand 
years,  during  which  the  order  continued,  from  the  reign  of  Nu- 
ma,  only  eighteen  were  punished  for  the  violation  of  their  vow. 
.  '  "  The  dress  of  the  Vestals  was  peculiar;  they 

{uxuryfby'wh^m     ™re"a  whi^  vest  with  purple  borders,  a  white 

the     order    was     linen   surplice   called  iinteum  sufiernum^  above 

abolished. 

=5===    which  was 'a  great  purple  mantle  which  flowed 

to  the  ground,  and  which  was  tucked  up  when  they  offered  sacri- 
fices. They  had  a  close  covering  on  their  head,  called  infula^  from 
which  hung  ribbons,  or  -vittx.  Their  manner  of  living  was  sump- 
tuous, as  they  were  maintained  at  the  public  expense,  and  though 
originally  satisfied  with  the  simple  diet  of  the  Romans,  their  ta- 
bles soon  after  displayed  the  luxuries  and  superfluities  of  the 
great  and  opulent. — The  Vestals  were  abolished  by  Theodosius 
the  great,  and  the  Fire  of  Vesta  extinguished. 


SECTION     NINTH. 

THE    SIBYLS. 

TOR  the  sake  of  method,  I  divide  what  I  have 
cons'SewdSep  to  sa>'  on  this  subjcct  into  several  articles.  1st,  I 
five  heads, viz.;—  snaii  examine  whether  there  really  were  Sibyls. 
2d,  How  many  there  were  of  them.  3d,  Upon 
•what  ground  the  ancients  believed  they  had  the  gift  of  prophecy. 
4th,  What  we  are  to  think  of  the  long  life  that  was  attributed  to 
them-  Lastly,  Whether  they  were  reputed  Divinities,  and  what 
worship  was  paid  to  them. 

- — '-^  1st,  The  ancients  gave  the  name  of  Sibyls  to 
thef-freaUy  were  a  certain  number  of  young  women,  whom  they 
Sybils.  believed  to  be  endowed  with  the  gift  of  prophe- 

cy. This  name  was  originally  either  Hebreiv^  as 
T)ELBIO,  PEUCERUS,  NEANI>ER<  and  some  others  contend;   or 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  197 

SEC.  IX.  THE    SIBYLS. 

Latin,  as  SUIDAS  says;  or  African,  as  PAUSANIAS  will  have  it;  or 
in  fine,  Greek,  as  most  of  the  learned  assert.  This  last  was  the 
opinion  of  DIODORUS,  who  derives  the  name  from  a  word  im- 
porting in  the  Greek  language,  inspired,  enthusiast,  because  they 
were  fully  persuaded  that  the  Sibyls  were  inspired  by  the  Gods: 
but  of  all  who  have  inquired  into  the  etymology  of  this  name, 
LACTANTIUS  is  he  whose  opinion  is  generally  followed.  This 
learned  author  says,  it  signified  the  counsel  of  God. — Be  that  as  it 
will,  all  antiquity  concurs  in  establishing  the  existence  of  some 
such  persons,  and  though  there  is  a  considerable  variation  with 
respect  to  their  number,  as  we  shall  see  afterwards,  that  does  not 
however  destroy  the  certainty  of  their  having  existed.  One  dis- 
putes about  their  number,  another  about  their  country,  a  third 
about  the  time  when  they  lived,  8cc.  But  these  very  disputes  prove 
their  existence  to  be  taken  for  granted;  so  that  it  cannot  be  deni- 
ed, without  overturning  whatever  is  most  certain  in  antiquity, 
and  without  contradicting,  at  the  same  time,  several  Fathers  of 
the  first  centuries,  who  have  given  into  the  unanimous  opinion  of 
the  Ancients. 

|  2d,  If  the  Ancients  are  agreed  as  to  the  ear- 
there  were  *  of  ^stence  °f  the  Sibyls,  they  are  far  from  being  so 
them.  as  to  their  number.  The  cause  of  their  uncer- 

tainty about  this  subject  is,  that  one  and  the 
same  Sibyl  travelled  into  several  countries,  and  after  having 
staid  sometime  in  one  place,  and.  delivered  oracles  there,  she 
passed  into  another:  frequently  too,  different  names  were  given 
to  the  same,  sometimes  that  of  the  country,  sometimes  that  of 
.the  places  of  her  abode.  The  opinion,  however,  most  generally 
received,  is  that  of  VARRO,  recited  by  LACTANTIUS;  and  the  ac- 
count of  them  given  by  that  learned  father  of  the  church,  is  as 
follows.  "  VARRO  in  the  books  which  he  composed  upon  divine 
things  dedicated  by  him  to  C.  Caesar  the  High-Priest,  when  he 
2  B 


15*  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

THE    SIBYLS.  SEC.  IX. 

comes  to  the  article  of  the  Sibylline  Books,  says,  that  those 
Books  were  not  the  work  of  only  one  Sibyl,  but  of  ten,  for  there 
wtre  that  number  in  all.  Then  he  names  them  one  after  another, 
with  the  authors  who  had  spoken  of  them  before  him.  "Theirs/, 
says  he,  and  the  most  ancient  one,  was  a  Persian  by  birth,  as  we 
learn  from  NICAMOR,  whom  the  Persians  called  Sambethe,  the 
same  who  had  written  the  history  of  Alexander  of  Macedon.  The 
second  wras  born  in  Libya,  and  of  her  EURIPIDES  makesmention, 
in  the  prologue  to  his  tragedy,  intitletl  Lamia,  saying  that  she 
was  the  daughter  of  Jufiiter  and  Lamia.  The  third  was  of  Del- 
fihos<  as  we  learn  from  the  book  of  divination  composed  by 
CHRYSIPPUS,  DIODORUS  SICULUS  names  her  Dajihnc.  The 
fourth  had  her  birth  among  the  Simmerians  in  Italy;  NJEVIUS 
speaks  of  her  in  his  history  of  the  Punic  war,  and  Piso  in  his 
annals.  The  Jifth,  the  most  famous  of  all,  was  of  Erythrta,  ac- 
cording to  APOLLODORUS,  who  was  of  the  same  country;  she 
prophesied  to  the  Greeks  who  were  goLig  to  besiege  Troy,  the 
h;  ppy  success  of  their  enterprise,  and  at  the  same  time,  that 
HOMER  should  one  day  write  a  great  deal  of  fictions  upon  that 
subject.  The  sixth  was  of  Samos,  and  her  history  was  to  be  found 
in  the  most  ancient  unnals  of  the  Samians,  as  we  learn  from  ERA- 
TOSTHENES; she  was  called  Pitho  or  Persuasion,  according  to 
SUIDAS,  but  EUSEBIUS  termed  he  Erifihile.  The  seventh,  born  at 
Cuma,  was  named  Amalthxa,  according  to  some  authors,  and  ac- 
cording to  others,  Dcmofihile,  or  Hicrofihile:  it  was  she  who  offer- 
ed to  Tarqtiin  the  elder,  a  collection  of  Sibylline  -verses,  in  nine 
books.  The  eighth  was  the  Hellesfiontine,  born  at  Marjiems  near 
the  town  of  Gergis  in  Traos:  HERACLIDES  of  Pontus  said,  she 
lived  in  the  tin>c  of  Cyrus  and  Solon.  The  ninth,  likewise  a 
Phrvgi.tn  by  birth,  gave  her  Oracles  at  s/ncyra,  the  place  of  her 
re  -idence.  The  tenth,  in  fine,  named  jflbuntsa,  was  of  Tibur  or 
Ti'iili,  and  was  honoured  as  a  Divinity  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  i her  ./faze/."  These  ore  the  fen  Sibi/lx  whom  VAHRO  admit- 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  195* 

SEC.  IX.  THE    SIBYLS. 

ted. — SUIDAS,  also  speaks  of  the  Sibyls,  but  not  very  accunieiy: 
he  has  given  us  two  articles  about  them  which  don't  rest-nil. le 
one  another,  though  in  both  he  reckons  ten  of  them.  J£LIAN.  on 
the  contrary,  allows  but  four  of  them,  namely,  the  Erythr&any 
the  Egyptian,  she  who  was  born  at  Samos,  and  another  at  £ar'dia 
in  Lydia.  SOLINUS  seems  persuaded,  that  their  number  uuglit 
to  be  reduced  to  l/irec,  those  of  Sardzs  and  Cum*,  and  the  A  ;/- 
thrtan,  wherein  he  is  followed  by  AUSONIUS,  who  likewise  adir-its 
not  more  of  them  than  three. — This  would  be  the  proper  place 
to  examine  when  the  Sibyls  lived;  their  parentage,  the  place  of 
their  birth,  and  the  order  wherein  they  ought  to  be  placed;  but 
so  many  different  opinions  in  relation  to  these  four  articles  are  to 
be  found  among  both  ancients  and  moderns,  that  after  strict  ex- 
amination, one  is  at  a  loss  what  to  fix  upon.  I  have  chcsen  to 
mention  them  in  the  same  order  as  LACTANTIUS  had  done  nfier 
VARRO,  although  I  am  not  ignorant  that  several  of  the  learned 
have  inverted  that  order,  as  if  it  was  a  thing  worth  while  to  m;<ke 
a  bustle  about.  What  does  it  really  avail  whether  that  of  Per- 
sia be  the  first  and  most  ancient  of  all,  as  VAHRO  alleged;  or  the 
fifth)  as  BOISSARD  will  have  it;  or  only  the  eighth  according  tc 
ONUPHRIUS  PANVINUS.  GALLJEUS  has  taken  the  trouUe  to  put 
together  all  that  has  been  said  upon  this  subject;  ar.d  a  huv  t:  e 
learned  may  have  recourse. 

"-.  3d,  The  ancients  have  reasoned  profoundly 

we^e'st-Ipposed to    uPon  the  inter<^ourse  and  union  which  the  Crec- 
he   gifted   with    ture  is  capable  of  attaining  with  the  Deity,  and 
prophecy. 
=====^^===    this  union   or  correspondence    they    reckoned 

might  be  so  intimate,  that  when  man  was  arrived  to  a  certain  de- 
gree of  perfection,  the  darkest  events  of  futurity  were  then  laid 
open  to  his  view.  To  this  pitch  of  perfection,  several  endeavour- 
ed to  arrive,  and  some  of  them  were  belie\ed  to  have  actually 
attained  it,  by  virtue  of  that  sort  of  magic  which  they  termed 
Thcurgid)  as  shall  be  said  in  the  sequel:  thus  reasoned  the  Plato- 


200  MACHINERY  OP  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

•THK    SIBYLS.  SEC.  I>v 

nics  upon  the  union  which  Man  may  have  with  the  Godn:  taking 
it  for  granted  that  this  was  one  of  the  fundamental  articles  of  the 
Pagan  theology,  we  may  say  that  what  made  them  believe  the 
Sibyls  were  possessed  of  a  prophetic  gift,  must  have  been  owing 
to  their  having  had  a  persuasion  that  they  enjoyed  this  intimate 
union  with  the  Gods,  especially  with  Aficillo  the  master  of  Divina- 
tion. It  was  likewise  for  this  reason  that  they  gave  the  same 
privilege  to  the  Pythia  of  Delfihos,  and  to  ihe  Priestesses  of  Dodo- 
na  whom  they  believed  to  be  intimately  united  with  the  Deity  by 
•whom  they  were  inspired.  But  other  philosophers  had  very  dif- 
ferent sentiments  about  the  firofihetic  sfiirit  of  the  Sibyls,  which 
they  attributed  to  the  influence  of  a  black  and  melancholy  humour, 
or  some  other  disease.  Others  again  were  of  opinion,  that  the 
fury  to  which  they  were  wrought  up,  enabled  them  to  know  and 
foretell  future  events,  as  IAMBLICUS  and  .AGATHIAS  maintain. 
To  this  fury,  CICERO  added  dreams,  which  sometimes  inform  us 
of  things  to  come.  This  illustrious  author  says  elsewhere, "  there 
are  persons,  who  without  .any  science,  and  without  any  observa- 
tion, foretel  future  events,  by  I  know  not  \vhalfurious  impulse" 
We  also  find  ancient  authors  who  ascribe  this  faculty  of  divina- 
tion which  the  Sibyls  had,  to  the  -vafiours  and  exhalations  of  the 
caverns  inhabited  by  them,  as  was  ascribed  to  the  caveofDel/ihos. 
Lastly,  ST.  JKROM  maintained  that  this  gift  was  imparted  to  them 
as  a  reward  of  their  chastity: — true  it  is  that  chastity  has  al- 
ways been  looked  upon,  even  by  the  Pagans,  as  a  necessary  quali- 
fication in  those  who  approached  the  altars;  that  the  Priests,  be- 
fore they  offered  up  the  sacrifices,  were  obliged  to  prepare  them- 
selves for  that  service  by  continence,  and  that  there  were  even 
some  of  them  who  used  medicinal  means  to  acquire  this  gift:  it 
is  likewise  true,  that  in  order  to  be  assured  of  the  chastity  of  the 
Priestess  of  Del/ihos^  they  chose  her  in  the  earliest  time  of  life, 
from  among  the  country  fieofilr,  with  whom  this  virtue  is  less  ex- 
posed than  with  the  citizens.  I  know  not,  however,  what  founda- 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  201 

SEC.  IX.  THE    SIBYLS. 

tion  ST.  JEROM  hud,  for  entertaining  such  a  favourable  notion  of 
the  chastity  of  the  Sibyls,  since  there  is  one  of  them  who  boasts 
of  having  had  si  great  number  of  lovers,  without  being  married,  in 
this  verse  which  I  have  taken  from  the  Latin  translation;  mille 
mihi  lecti,  connubia  nullafuere.  -  The  Sibyl  of  Persia  too,  speaks 
of  her  husband  who  was  with  her  in  NOAH'S  Ark,  as  we  shall  see 
in  the  sequel.  —  Our  opinion  therefore  is,  that  the  Sibyls,  being 
of  a  sullen  melancholy  humour^.  Iniug  retired,  and  giving  way  to 
a  fanatic  impulse,  as  VIRGIL  describes  the  Sibyl  of  Camxa,  de- 
livered at  a  venture  what  came  into  their  mind,  and  that  in  the 
course  of  their  frequent  predictions,  they  sometimes  hit  right; 
or  rather  by  the  help  of  &  favourable  commentary,  people  per- 
suaded themselves  that  they  had  divined.  And  indeed,  how  easy 
was  it  for  those  who  collected  their  predictions,  and  pui  them  in 
verse,  as  was  done  to  those  of  the  Priestess  of  Deiphos,  to  retrench 
or  add  what  they  pleased,  and  that  frequently  even  after  the  event? 
Some  have  been  prophets  in  spite  of  themselves,  and  the  public 
frequently  gives  itself  the  trouble  to  Accommodate  words  spoken 
at  random,  to  facts  which  were  never  dreamed  of  by  him  who 
uttered  them.  Do  we  not  see  instances  of  this  every  day  among 
ourselves,  in  relation  to  our  pretending  prophets. 

•  4th,  I  cannot  pass  in  silence,  what  OVID  tells 

4th,  The  long 
life  attributed  to    us  in  his  Metamorphoses,  of  the  amours  of  the 


Cum«an  *%'  with  ^oll°-  Thai  God,  says  he, 
falling  in  love  with  her,  she  promised  to  receive 
his  addresses,  if  he  would  grant  Hfer  to  live  as  many  yeai  s  as  she 
had  grains  of  sand  in  her  hand:  but  after  she  had  obtained  her  re- 
quest, she  repaid  the  God  with  ingratitude;  who,  in  turn,  pun- 
ished her  in  the  enjoyment  of  her  -vain  desire,  for  —  having  forgot 
to  ask,  that  her  youthful  vigour  might  be  continued  through  that 
length  of  years,  she  lived  till  she  became  a  burden  to  herself,  op- 
pressed with  old  age,  and  so  emaciated,  that  she  had  nothing  left 
but  her  voice.  It  is  easy  to  see,  that  this  fable  is  founded  upon  a 


202  MACHINERY  OP  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

THE    SIBYLS.  SEC.  IX. 

double  tradition;  the  one,  that  they  looked  upon  jifiollo  to  be  the 
God,  who  had  deepest  insight  into  futurity,  and  who  communica- 
ted the  same  to  his  favourites,  which  accounts  for  their  saying, 
he  had  been  in  love  with  this  Sibyl,  who  was  believed  to  be  greatly 
endued  with  the  prophetic  gift:  And  what  accounts  for  the  other 
part  of  the  fuble  is  the  general  persuasion  that  prevailed  of  the 
Sibyl  having  lived  to  a  very  great  age.  VIRGIL,  in  two  passages, 
calls  the  Sibyl  of  Cumae  the  aged  Priestess,  Longx-va  Sacerdos. 
ERASMUS  assures  us,  it  was  from  this  longevity  of  the  Sibyls,  that 
the  proverb  came,  Sibylla  -uivacior;  and  PROPERTIUS  says,  in  the 
second  book  of  his  elegies,  u  though  you  should  live  as  many  ages 
as  the  Sibyl:"  to  the  same  purpose  are  usually  quoted  the  verses 
of  an  old  poet,  who  gives  three  examples  of  persons  who  were 
long-lived,  viz  Hecuba^  the  wife  of  Priam;  JEthra,  the  mother  of 
Theseus;  and  the  Sibyl.  OVID  tells  us,  that  at  the  time  when 
./Eneas  consulted  the  Cun  sean  Sibyl,  she  had  already  lived  seven 
hundred  years,  und  that  she  had  three  hundred  more  to  live. — 
PHLEGON  gives  the  same  account  ot  the  Erythraean  Sibyl;  and  she 
herself,  in  her  predictions,  boasts  of  this  privilege. — These  testi- 
monies for  the  longevity  of  the  Sibyls,  induce  me  to  make  two 
reflections:  First,  that  they  are  nothing  but  exaggerations  of  the 
poets.  That  some  of  them  lived  as  long  as  Hecuba  and  jEt/ira, 
that  is  fourscore,  or  fourscore  and  ten  years,  has  nothing  in  it  ex- 
traordinary; but  this  is  the  most  we  can  allow.  Even  LUCIAN, 
who  gnes  a  long  detail  of  persons  who  were  long-lived,  makes 
no  mention  of  the  Sibyls;  whfbh  is  a  strong  presumption  against 
the  great  age  which  is  assigned  to  them.  But  as  poetical  fictions 
have  always  some  foundation,  learned  authors  will  have  it,  that 
the  Sibyl  of  Cumsa  was  said  to  have  lived  a  thousand  years,  only 
because  she  had  foretold  what  was  to  befal  the  Romans  in  that 
spt.ce  of  time.  The  transformation  of  that  Sibyl  into  Voice,  is 
nothing  but  ;.n  emblem,  which  imports  that  her  Oracles  were  to 
last  forever. — The  second  reflection  is,  that  in  all  appearance,  the 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OP  IDOLATRY.  203 

SEC.  IX.  THE    SIBYLS. 

Sibyl  o>  Cume  was  the  same  with  thai  of  Erytlirxa,  who  having 
quitted  her  native  country,  came  and  settled  in  Italy.  And  indeed 
if  we  credit  SERVIUS,  the  amour,  which  we  have  just  now  taken 
from  OVID,  concerns  the  Sibyl  of  Erythnea.  That  author,  speak- 
ing of  folio's  amiurs  with  that  virgin,  subjoins  to  what  we  have 
said  of  her,  that  the  God  granted  her  the  long  life  she  sought, 
only  upon  condition  she  would  abandon  the  isle  Erythrga,  the 
place  of  her  birth,  to  come  and  settle  in  Italy.  Accordingly  she 
came  thither,  and  fixed  her  residence  near  Cum<e,  where  she 
lived  so  long,  till,  quite  spent  with  old  age,  nothing  remained  of 
her  but  her  -voice.  «  Those  of  her  own  country,  says  the  same  au- 
thor, whether  out  of  pity,  or  some  other  motive,  wrote  her  a 
letter;  but  fearing  that  she  would  not  be  able  to  read  the  charac- 
ter then  in  use,  and  which  must  have  been  much  altered  since 
she  left  their  Island,  they  thought  fit  to  use  the  oldest  they  knew, 
and  to  seal  the  letter  after  the  old  fashion;  but  no  sooner  had  she 
read  it  than  she  died." — We  may  add,  that  the  ancients  gave  the 
same  account  of  the  long  life  of  the  Sibyls  of  Erythrxa  and  of 
the  Ionian  Cumtea,  as  we  have  now  given  of  the  Cum&an  Sibyl 
in  Italy;  which  made  CALLOUS  inclined  to  believe  that  those 
three  Sibyls  were  but  one,  who  had  passed  a  part  of  her  life  in 
the  island  of  Erythraca^  at  Cunite  in  Ionia,  and  at  Cume  in  Italy, 
where  she  ended  her  days. 

_.  5th,  The  Pagans,  especially  the  Romans,  had 

whetha?  L(ihe'  lhe  hiShest  Possible  veneration  for  the  Sib>  Is.  If 
\vere  reputed  D'u  they  did  not  always  look  upon  them  to  be  Divini- 
.  tics,  they  at  least  reputed  them  of  a  middle  na- 
ture between  Gods  and  men.  This  is  what  one  of  the  Sibyls  said 
of  herself,  according  to  PAUSANIAS.  While  she  acknowledged, 
that  after  a  life  of  several  ages,  she  was  to  pay  the  tribute  which 
all  human  kind  owe  to  death;  at  the  same  time  she  said,  she  was 
to  be  one  day  transformed  into  that  face  which  appears  in  the 
^T:-  ••  as  maybe  seen  iu  PLVTARCH:  r.s  if  before  the  Sibyls  were. 


204  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

THE    SIBYLS,  SEC.  IX. 

that  Planet  had  not  exhibited  the  same  appearance  of  a  face,  which 
is  thought  to  be  there  discerned.  Mythologists,  ancient  and  mo- 
dern, have  trifled  egregiously  in  making  moral  and  physical  lec- 
tures upon  this  metamorphosis  of  the  Sibyls,  and  I  hope  it  will 
not  be  expected  1  am  to  copy  them.  And  indeed  what  reasonable 
allegories  can  be  imagined  as  a  foundation  for  a  fiction  so  frivo- 
lous?— Such  was  the  idea  the  ancients  had  of  the  Sibyls.  In  later 
times,  at  least  some  of  them,  had  divine  honours  paid  them.  LAC- 
TANTIUS,  who  had  read  the  work  of  VARRO,  in  which  he  speaks 
of  the  Sibyls,  is  positive  that  the  Tiburtine  was  worshipped  as  a 
Goddess  at  Tibur.  It  would  likewise  seem,  that  the  worship 
which  those  of  her  own  country  paid  to  her,  was  brought  to  Rome, 
since  that  learned  father  of  the  church  subjoins,  cujus  sacra,  Sena- 
tius  in  Ca/ritolum  transtnlit. — The  highest  mark  of  supreme  wor- 
ship given  to  any  one,  was  to  consecrate  temples  to  him;  now  it 
is  certain,  that  someof  the  Sibyls  had  temples.  ST.  JUSTIN  MAR- 
TYR mentions  that  of  the  Sibyl  of  Cumx  in  Italy,  built  over  the 
very  care  where  she  had  delivered  her  Oracles:  and  as  he  had  the 
curiosity  to  visit  it  when  in  Italy,  he  has  given  a  very  full  descrip- 
tion of  it.  VIRGIL  makes  mention  of  this  temple;  or  rather  he 
considers  as  a  temple  the  grotto  where  the  Sibyl  delivered  her 
Oracles,  because  in  after-times  there  was  one  actually  built  there. 
We  read  in  M.  SPON'S  travels,  that  near  the  place  which  the 
people  of  the  country  give  out  to  be  the  cave  of  the  Tiburtine 
Sibyl,  are  to  be  seen  the  ruins  of  a  small  temple,  which  is  thought 
to  have  been  consecrated  to  her.  We  may  add  farther,  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Gergis,  in  the  lesser  Phrygia,  had  a  custom  of  re- 
presenting upon  their  medals,  the  Sibyl  who  was  born  in  that 
city,  as  being  their  great  Divinity. — Another  proof  of  the  wor- 
ship paid  to  the  Sibyls,  is  that  there  were  statues  erected  to  them, 
which  were  placed  in  the  temples;  those  of  which  GALL^EUS  has 
given  us  prints,  were  even  in  the  church  of  Sienna,  where  proba- 
bly they  had  been  left  at  its  consecration.  Now,  if  we  would 


CHAP.  II.  MACHINERY  OP  IDOLATRY.  205 

SEC.   IX.  THE    SIBYLS. 

know  what  honours  were  paid  to  statues  in  the  temples,  ARXO- 
BIUS  will  inform  us:  they  prostrated  themselves  before  the  statues 
of  the  Gods,  and  kissed  the  very  ground.  We  may  add  farther, 
that  they  would  not  touch  the  book  containing  the  Oracles  of  the 
Sibyls,  unless  their  hands  were  covered;  which  was  the  practice 
in  all  the  other  religious  ceremonies. — These  are  the  most  posi- 
tive arguments  we  find  for  the  worship  paid  to  the  Sibyls. 
1  I  will  briefly  take  notice  of  the  Tomb  and  Epi 

Ep!taphT°£fbthe  te/M  of  the  Erythraean  Sibyl,  the  most  celebrat- 
Erythrsean  Sibyl,  edofall;  but  as  the  passage  where  it  is  men- 
tioned by  PAUSAXIAS,  contains  some  other  par- 
ticularities concerning  this  Sibyl,  which  are  not  to  be  met  with 
elsewhere,  I  shall  copy  it  entire.  "  The  Sibyl  Herophile,  says 
PAUSANIAS,  is  later  than  she  who  was  daughter  to  Jufiiter  and 
Lamia,  and  yet  she  lived  before  the  siege  of  Troy;  for  she  pro- 
phesied, that  Helen  should  be  educated  at  Sparta,  to  be  the  curse 
of  Asia,  and  that  upon  her  account  all  Greece  should  one  day 
conspire  the  ruin  of  Troy.  The  inhabitants  of  Delos  have  hymns 
in  honour  of  ^pvllo,  which  they  ascribe  to  this  woman.  In  these 
verses,  she  gives  herself  out  not  only  for  fJerophil?,but  for  Diana 
too.  Sometimes  she  makes  herself  the  -wife,  sometimes  the 
sister,  and  sometimes  the  daughter  of  Apollo;  but  then  she  speaks 
like  one  inspired,  and  as  it  were  delirious:  for  elsewhere  she  says 
she  was  born  of  an  immortal  mother,  one  of  the  Nymphs  of  Ida, 
and  a  mortal  father;  <  I  am,  says  she,  the  daughter  of  an  immortal 
J\'ymph,  but  of  a  mortal  father;  a  native  of  Ida,  that  country  where 
the  soil  is  so  parched  and  light;  Marpessus  is  the  birth-place  of  my 
mother,  and  the  river  ddoneus.'  Accordingly  about  Mount  Ida  in 
Phrygia,  there  are  to'  be  seen  at  this  day,  the  ruins  of  Marpessus, 
where  are  still  remaining  about  sixty  inhabitants.  Marpessus  is 
about  two  hundred  and  forty  furlongs  from  Alexandria,  a  city  of 
Troas.  The  inhabitants  of  Alexandria  say,  Htrophile  was  the 


206  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  II. 

THE    SIBYLS.  SEC.  IX. 

keeper  of  the  temple  to  Afiolh  Smintheus,  and  that  she  had  given 
an  interpretation  of  Hecuba's  dream,  whereof  the  truth  was  justi- 
fied by  the  event.  This  Sibyl  passed  a  good  part  of  her  life  at 
Samos;  then  she  came  to  Claros,  which  belongs  to  the  Colopho- 
nies; then  to  Delos;  from  that  to  Delphos,  where  she  delivered 
her  Oracles  from  the  rock  I  have  spoken  of.  She  ended  her  days 
in  Traos:  her  Tomb  is  still  subsisting  in  the  sacred  grove  of 
Ajwllo  Smintheus,  with  an  epitaph  in  elegiac  verse,  engraved  on 
a  Column,  which  is  to  this  effect:  '  I  am  that  famous  Sibyl,  whom 
jlfiollo  had  for  the  interjireter  of  his  Oracles;  once  an  eloquent  -vir- 
gin, now  lying  speechless  underneath  this  marble,  and  condemned 
to  an  eternal  silence:  nei>ert/ieless,  by  the  favour  of  the  Corf,  dead 
as  I  am,  I  enjoy  the  siveet  society  of  Mercury,  and  of  the  Nymphs 
my  companions.'  And  indeed,  nigh  her  monument  stands  Mercury 
in  a  quadrangular  figure;  on  the  left,  a  fountain  of  waterfalls  into 
a  bason,  where  statues  of  Nymfihs  are  to  be  seen.  The  Eryth- 
raeans  are  they  of  all  the  Greeks  who  claim  this  Sibyl  with  the 
greatest  warmth.  They  vauntingly  shew  their  mount  Corycua, 
and  in  this  mountain  a  cave,  \\  here  they  pretended  Herophile  had 
her  birth.  According  to  them,  a  shepherd  of  the  country,  named 
Theodorus,  was  her  father,  and  a  Xymfih  her  mother.  This 
Nymfih  was  surnamed  Idxa,  because  every  place  was  then  called 
Ida,  which  was  planted  with  a  number  of  trees.  As  for  those 
verses,  which  speak  of  Marpessus  and  the  river  Aidoneus,  as  her 
native  country,  the  Erythi  aeans  strike  them  out  of  the  poems  of 
Hero/ihile." — We  shall  speak  of  the  Sibyline  Books  and  their 
Oracles,  when  speaking  of  Oracles  in  general,  in  the  following 
CHAPTER. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY. 


THE  ceremonies  of  Su/icrstition  authorised  by  idolatry,  are 
very  numerous.  Among  them  I  reckon,  1st,  The  veneration  that 
was  paid  to  Oracles  in  general,  and  to  the  Sibylline  Books  in  par- 
ticular, which,  with  the  Romans,  were  a  standing  Oracle  consult- 
ed by  them  upon  all  occasions;  2d,  the  Presages;  3x1,  the  Prodi- 
gies; 4th,  Expiations;  5th,  Magic;  6th,  Judicial  Astrology;  7th, 
Divination;  8th,  the  Lots;  9th,  the  Prsestigiae;  10th,  the  Augu- 
ries; llth,  the  Auspices;  12th,  Public  Supplications,  and  Devo- 
tions; 13th,  Ceremonies  of  founding  Cities;  14th,  the  Festivals; 
15th,  the  Games;  besides  some  others. 

SECTION    FIRST. 
OF  ORACLES  7JV  GENERAL. 

As  the  Oracles,  which  SENECA  defines  to  be 

language  or  will  *ne  w'^  °f  tne  Gods  declared  by  the  mouths  of 
of  the  Gods,  are  men  an(j  which  CICERO  simply  calls  the  Ian- 

public  &   private. 

=====  guage  of  the  Gods,  Deorum  Oratio,  depended 
upon  the  Pagan  religion,  and  were  a  considerable  part  of  it,  their 
history  belongs  to  a  treatise  upon  Mythology.  Nothing  was  more 
famous  than  these  Oracles:  they  were  cdnsulted  not  only  for  na- 
tional enterprise,  but  even  in  affairs  of  private  life.  In  public 
matters^  were  the  points  in  question,  to  make  peace  or  war,  to 
enact  laws,  reform  states,  or  change  the  constitution;  in  all  these 


208  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  HI. 

OF    ORACLES.  SEC.    I. 

cases  they  hdd  recourse  to  the  Oracle  by  public  authority.  In 
private,  lift,  if  a  mi>n  had  a  design  to  marry,  if  he  was  to  enter 
upon  a  journey,  or  in  short,  whatever  business  he  was  to  under- 
take, was  he  sick  and  out  of  order,  he  must  directly  consult  the 
Oracle.  Men's  desire  of  knowing  futurity,  and  of  securing  the 
success  of  their  designs,  led  them  to  consult  those  Gods  who 
•were  reputed  prophetic;  for  all  the  Gods  had  not  that  character.* 
Hence,  the  institution  of  Oracles,  the  eagerness  to  consult  them, 
and  the  immense  donations  wherewith  their  temples  were  filled; 
for  an  anxious  mind,  subdued  by  vain  curiosity,  sticks  at  nothing. 
•  Upon  this  principle,  we  need  not  doubt  but 

as  universal  *" as  thal  everv  nation,  where  idolatry  prevailed,  had 
Idolatry.  jts  Qrac]eS)  Or  some  other  means  of  searching 

into  the  hidden  events  of  futurity.  There  never 
•was  any  nation  where  impostors  were  wanting,  and  a  tribe  of 
covetous  mortals,  who  pretended  to  the  gift  of  foreknowing  and 
predicting  mysterious  future  events.  They  have  been  found  even 
among  the  most  gross  and  barbarous  nations,  such  as  the  Iroquois, 
and  other  savages  of  America.  The  ancient  Gauls  had  their 
Druids,  who  were  regarded  by  them  as  prophets.  Among  the 
Egyptians  and  Phenicians,  the  Priests  were  clothed  with  this 
character,  and  thus  doubtless  it  was  among  other  nations.  But 
as  a  particular  examination  into  the  Oracles  of  every  idolatrous 
people,  would  carry  us  too  far,  and  as  we  Avant  records,  from 
which  to  compile  their  history,  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  the 
Oracles  of  the  Egyptians,  Greeks,  and  Romans;  especially  those 
of  the  Greeks,  who  were  both  very  numerous,  and  highly  cele- 
brated. 


*  In  older  times  there  were  hardly  any  who  delivered  Oracles  but  The- 
mis, Jupiter,  and  Jipollo;  but  afterwards  this  privilege  was  granted  to  al- 
most all  the  Gods,  and  to  a  great  number  of  Heroes,  as  AVC  shall  see  in 
due  time. 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  209 


OF    ORACLES. 


•  Before  we  enter  upon  the  particular  history 

imposture?;  "Tnd    of  these  Oracles,  it  is  necessary  to  examine  in 

did  they  cease  at    a  few  worcis  two  important  questions.   1st,  Were 

the     Coming     of 

Christ?  the  numerous  predictions  which  authors  ascri- 

"  "  bed  to  them,  the  mere  imposture  of  priests,  or 

did  they  proceed  from  the  Devil?  2d.  Did  the  Oracles  actually 
cease  at  the  coming  of  Christ? — VAN  DALE,  in  a  treatise,  which 
cannot  be  censured  for  want  of  learning,  has  attempted  to  prove 
that  all  of  those  predictions  proceeded  entirely  from  the  tricks  of 
those  who  had  the  charge  of  the  Oracles;  and  that  they  did  not 
cease  when  Christ  came  into  the  world — As  the  opinion  of  VAN 
DALE  seemed  to  contradict  the  unanimous  sentiments  of  all  the 
Fathers,  and  the  constant  tradition  of  the  Church,  which  ascribed 
a  great  part  at  least  of  the  Oracular  responses  to  the  Devil,  who 
was  not  chained  up  till  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ,  father  BAL- 
THUS  the  Jesuit,  in  a  learned  treatise,  undertook  the  defence  of 
the  tradition  of  the  Church,  and  the  Fathers;  and  without  denying 
the  imposture  of  the  Priests,  which  was  often  mixed  with  the 
Oracles,  he  proves  in  an  equally  perspicuous  and  solid  manner, 
the  intervention  of  the  Devil  in  some  predictions,  which  all  the 
efforts  of  incredulity  were  incapable  of  ascribing  to  the  cheats  of 
the  Priests  alone.  And  as  for  the  time  of  the  cessation  of  these 
Oracles,  he  proves  with  the  same  erudition,  that  if  they  did  not 
cease  altogether  at  the  coming  of  Christ,  they  at  least  began  then 
to  decline;  they  were  no  longer  in  such  high  reputation;  they 
were  no  longer  consulted  with  the  usual  apparatus:  though  it  is 
unquestionable  that  they  did  not  entirely  cease,  till  Christianity 
triumphed  over  idolatry. — It  is  not  to  my  purpose  to  enlarge 
farther  upon  these  two  questions,  the  particulars  of  the  case  being 
in  every  body's  hands.  Yet  I  cannot  help  making  some  reflections 
upon  the  first,  that  serve  to  overthrow  VAN-DALE'S  scheme.  Is 
it  then  credible,  that  if  the  Oracles  had  been  nothing  but  the 
offspring  of  priestcraft,  whatever  artful  methods  they  may  be 


SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    ORACLES.  SEC.  I. 

thought  to  have  used;  and  however  successful  in  pumping  out 
the  secrets  and  schemes  of  those  who  came  to  consult  them;  is 
it  credible,  I  say,  that  these  Oracles  would  have  lasted  so  long, 
and  supported  themselves  with  so  much  splendour  and  reputa- 
tion, had  they  been  merely  owing  to  the  forgery  of  the  priests? 
Imposture  betrays  itself:  falsehood  never  holds  out.  Besides, 
there  were  too  many  witnesses,  too  many  curious  spies,  too  many 
people  whose  interest  it  was,  not  to  suffer  themselves  to  be  delu- 
ded. One  may  put  a  cheat  for  a  time  upon  a  few  private  persons, 
\vho  are  over-run  with  credulity,  but  by  no  means  upon  whole 
nations  for  several  ages.  Some  princes  who  had  been  played  upon 
by  ambiguous  responses,  a  trick  once  discovered,  the  bare  curio- 
sity of  a  free-thinker,  any  of  these,  in  short,  was  sufficient  to  blow 
up  the  whole  mystery,  and  at  once  make  the  credit  of  the  Oracle 
fall  to  the  ground.  How  many  people  deluded  by  hateful  respon- 
ses, were  concerned  to  examine,  if  it  was  really  the  priests  by 
whom  they  were  seduced.  But  why  was  it  so  hard  a  matter  to  find 
one  of  the  priests  themselves,  capable  of  being  bribed  to  betray 
the  cause  of  his  accomplices,  by  the  fair  promises  and  more  sub- 
stantial gifts,  of  those,  who  omitted  no  means  of  being  thorough- 
ly informed  on  a  subject  of  such  concern?  It  seems  then  there 
were  no  mercenary  souls  in  that  virtuous  age!  Gold  had  no  be- 
witching charms!  contempt  and  dishonour  had  lost  their  power! 
Why  else,  would  not  the  priests  of  an  Oracle,  whose  credit  was 
low,  or  entirely  sunk,  have  revealed,  either  through  despair  or 
revenge,  the  impostures  of  those  who  carried  off  from  them  all 
their  gain?  they,  who  by  practising  the  like  tricks,  had  good  rea- 
son at  least  to  suspect  those  of  others.  What  an  odd  combination 
is  this,  and  how  unparalleled,  to  hold  out  against  interest,  and 
against  reputation:  to  unite  so  many  impostors  in  a  secret  so  re- 
ligiously kept!  To  these  reflections,  father  BALTHUS  adds  ano- 
ther, drawn  from  human  sacrifices  that  were  required  by  the 
Oracles;  since  man,  says  he,  however  inthralled  to  his  passions, 
never  would  have  demanded  such  victims. 


CHAP.  m.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  211 


SEC.  I.  OF     ORACLES. 


In  order  to  co  suit  the  Oracles,  the  lim 


e  was 


Of    the    time    tQ  be  chosen     M  hen  jt   was  believed  the   Gods 
ana    manner     ot 

consulting      the    delivered  them;  for  all    days   were  not    equally 
Oracles. 
*  igreeable  to  them  for  that  purpose:  at  Delphos 

there  was  but  one  month  in  the  year,  when  the  priestess  answered 
those  who  came  to  consult  .ifiollo.  In  after-times,  there  was  one 
day  in  each  month,  when  that  God  pronounced  his  Oracles.  —  Nor 
were  all  the  Oracles  delivered  in  the  same  manner:  here,  it  was 
the  priestess  who  answered  for  the  God  whom  they  consulted; 
there,  it  was  the  God  himself  who  pronounced  the  Oracle;  in  an- 
other place  they  received  the  response  of  the  God  in  their  slrefl, 
for  procuring  which  they  used  certain  preparatory  means  of  a 
mysterious  nature;  sometimes  they  received  the  responses  in 
letters  under  a  seal;  and  in  fine,  in  other  places,  by  casting  lots, 
as  at  Preneste  in  Italy.  Sometimes  they  were  obliged  to  use 
many  preparatives,  in  order  to  qualify  themselves  for  receiving 
the  Oracles,  such  as  fastings,  sacrifices,  lustrations,  Sec  At  other 
times,  so  little  ceremony  was  reqviisite,  that  the  consulter  receiv- 
ed his  answer  instantaneously  upon  coming  up  to  the  Oracle;  as 
Alexander  did,  when  he  came  to  Libya  to  consult  that  of  Jufiiter- 
Hammon:  for  no  sooner  did  the  priest  see  him,  than  he  gave  him 
the  compellation  of,  son  of  Jufiiler;  to  obtain  which,  was  the 
whole  end  of  his  journey.  But  it  is  time  to  pass  on  to  the  par- 
ticular history  of  the  most  celebrated  Oracles:  and  as  those  of 
Dodona,  and  Jupiter  ffammon,  were  the  most  ancient,  I  shall  be- 
gin with  the  history  of  them. 

1st,  The  Oracle  of  Dodona* 

•   •    •  We  learn  from  HERODOTUS,  that  the  Oracle 

this  OracleTnan°d    °f  Dodona,\\ie  most  ancient  of  Greece,  and  that 

that  of  Jupiter  of  jupiter  Hammon  in  Libya,  had  the  same  ori- 
Hammon.  • 

l,  and  both    owed  their   institution   to  the 


The  honours  of  this  Oracle  were  divided  between  Jupiter  and  Apollo, 


212  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    ORACLES.  SEC.  I. 

Egyptians,  as  did  all  the  other  antiquities  of  Greece. —  Here  is 
the  allegoi-y,  under  which  this  piece  of  history  is  transmitted  to 
us:  Two  pigeons,  said  they,  taking  flight  from  Thebes  in  Egypt, 
one  of  them  came  to  Libya;  the  other  having  flown  as  far  as  the 
forest  of  Dodona  in  Chaonia,  a  province  of  Epirus,  alighted  there, 
and  let  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  know,  that  it  was  the  will 
of  Jupiter  to  have  an  Oracle  in  that  place.  This  prodigy -aston- 
ished those  who  were  witnesses  to  it,  and  the  Oracle  being  found- 
ed, there  was  very  soon  a  great  concourse  of  consultors.  SERVIUS 
adds,  that  Jupiter  hud  given  to  his  daughter  Ttbe  these  two 
pigeons,  and  communicated  to  them  the  gift  of  speech. — HEHO- 
DOTUS,  who  judged  rightly  that  the  fact  which  gave  rise  to  the 
institution  of  the  Oracle,  was  couched  under  the  fable,  has  ex- 
amined into  its  historical  foundation.  "  Phenician  merchants, 
says  this  author,  sometime  ago  carried  off  two  priestesses  of 
Thebes;  she  who  was  sold  in  Greece,  took  up  her  residence  in 
the  forest  of  Dodona,  where  the  Greeks  came  to  gather  acorns, 
their  ancient  food;  and  there  she  erected  a  small  chupel  at  the 
foot  of  an  Oak,  in  honour  of  Jupiter,  whose  priestess  she  had  beeii 
at  Thebes:  this  was  the  foundation  of  that  Oracle,  so  famous  in 
succeeding  ages.  The  same  author  subjoins,  that  this  priestess 
was  called  the  pigeon,  because  they  understood  not  her  language; 
but  soon  coming  to  be  acquainted  with  it,  they  reported  that  the 
pigeon  spoke." 

==        In  ancient  times,  the  Oracle  of  Dodona  was 
How  the  Oracle 
of   Dodona    was     glven    bX    the  murmuring  of  a  fountain   in  the 

given- forest  of  Dodona,  whose  purling  stream  rippled 

along  the  foot  of  an  Oak.  Afterwards,  it  seems, 
they  had  recourse  to  more  formalities,  and  this  was  the  artifice 
they  fell  upon;  they  suspended  in  the  air  some  brazen  kettles^ 
near  a  statue  of  the  same  metal  which  was  likewise  suspended, 
and  held  a  lash  in  its  hand:  this  figure  being  agitated  by  the  wind, 
struck  against  the  kettle  that  was  next  to  it,  which  communicating 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  213 

SEC.  I.  OF    ORACLES. 

the  motion  to  the  rest  of  the  kettles-  raised  a  clattering  din  which 
continued  sometime;  and  upon  this  noise  they  formed  predictions. 
Hence  the  forest  of  Dodona  had  even  taken  its  name,  for  fJodo  in 
Hebrew  signifies  a  kettle.  If  you  ask,  what  gave  rise  to  the  fable 
of  those  Oracles  being  delivered  by  the  Oaks  themselves?  the 
answer  I  take  to  be  this;  that  the  ministeis  of  that  Oracle  hid 
themselves  in  the  hollow  of  the  Oak,  when  they  gave  their  res- 
ponses.— From  these  speaking  Oaks,  to  mention  it  by  the  by, 
came  the  origin  of  that  other  fable  about  the  ma  fits  of  the  ship 
Argo,  cut  in  the  forest  of  Dodona,  which,  according  to  ONOMA- 
CRITUS,  APOLLONIUS  of  Rhodes,  and  VALERIUS  FLACCUS  gave 
Oracles  to  the  jirgonauts,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  history  of  iheir 
expedition.  SUIDAS,  speaking  of  the  Oaks  of  this  forest,  says, 
they  spoke,  and  gave  responses  to  the  supplicants  in  this  form; 
"  Thus  saith  Jitfiiter,  &c."  VAX-DALE,  in  his  history  of  Oracles, 
after  remarking  that  SUIDAS  has  barely  copied  EUSTATHIUS, 
reports  the  opinion  of  ARISTOTLE  and  several  other  authors,  and 
takes  particular  notice  how  much  the  ancients  vary  in  their  ac- 
counts of  this  Oracle;  this  variation  among  them,  no  doubt,  is 
owing  to  the  care  that  was  taken,  not  co  allow  those  who  came  to 
consult  the  Oracle,  to  approach  too  near  it  so  that  they  could  only 
hear  a  certain  sound,  but  by  no  means  could  judge  whence  it 
proceeded. — But  whatever  be  in  that,  no  sooner  was  the  sound  of 
the  kettles  over,  than  the  women  whom  they  named  Dodonida, 
delivered  their  Oracles,  either  in  verse,  as  appears  from  the  col- 
lection made  of  them;  or  by  the  tots,  as  CICERO  seems  to  think, 
in  his  book  of  Divination. 

2f/,   The  Oracle  of  Jufiiter  Hammon. 

'  What  I  have  taken  from  HERODOTUS  at  the 

The  antiquitv     ,       .      .  ... 

of  this  Oracle,—    beginning  of  the   preceding  art:rle,,pro\es   the 

character  of  its  Qracie  of  Jufliter  Hammon  in  Libya,  to  have 
Priests. 

been  as  ancient  as  that  of  Dodona,  whose  history 

2  D 


214  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    ORACLES.  SEC.   I- 

we  have  seen.  This  Oracle  became  likewise  very  famous,  and 
they  flocked  from  all  parts  to  consult  it,  notwithstanding  the  in- 
conveniences of  so  long  a  journey,  and  the  burning  sands  of  Li- 
bya they  had  to  go  through.  One  knows  not  well  what  to  think 
of  the  fidelity  of  the  priests  who  ministered  to  the  God.  Some- 
times they  were  proof  against  corruption,  as  appears  from  the 
charge  they  gave  in  at  Sparta  against  Lysander,  who  had  offered 
to  bribe  them,  in  that  scheme  he  was  projecting,  to  change  the 
order  of  succession  to  the  throne:  but  sometimes  they  are  not  so 
scrupulous;  witness  the  story  of  Alexander,  who,  either  to  screen 
the  reputation  of  his  mother,  or  from  pure  vanity,  affected  to  be 
reputed  son  ofJufriter;  since  the  priest  of  that  God,  as  has  been 
said,  stood  in  readiness  to  receive  him,  and  saluted  him,  Son  of 
the  king  of  Gods. 

We  learn  from  QCINTUS  CURTIUS,  and 
ponsel-were  gtv-  otner  ancient  authors,  that  the  statue  of  Jupiter 
Hammon  had  a  ram's  head,  with  its  horns.  And 
from  DIODORUS  SICULUS  we  learn  the  manner 
in  which  that  God  delivered  his  Oracles,  when  any  one  came  to 
consult  him; — Twenty-four  of  his  priests  bore  upon  their  shoul- 
ders, in  a  gilded  barge,  the  statue  of  their  God  sparkling  with 
precious  stones,  and  moved  on  whithersoever  they  thought  the 
impulse  of  the  God  carried  them:  a  troop  of  matrons  and  virgins 
accompanied  this  procession,  singing  hymns  in  honour  ofJufiiter, 
STRABO  remarks,  upon  the  authority  of  CALISTHKNES,  that  the 
responses  of  that  God  were  not  words,  as  at  Delphos,  and  among 
the  Bi'anchidae,  but  a  sign;  and  he  quotes  upon  this  occasion, 
that  verse  in  HOMER  which  says,  Jupiter  signified  his  consent  by 
bending  his  brow.?. 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  215 

SEC.  I.  OF    ORACLES. 

3d,   The  Oracle  of  Apollo  at  Heliopolis. 

According  to   MACROBIUS,   Apollo   gave  his 


ancHhS  o-    responses  in  the  city  of  Heliopolis  in  Egypt,  in 

ter  Phlius,  were    tne    same    way   with    Jufiiter  Hammon.    «  The 

given  as  that  of 

Hammon.  Statue  of  that  God,  says  he,  is  carried  in  the 

==========    same  manner  as  those  of  the  Gods  in  the  pro- 

cession at  the  i'irceneian  games.  The  priests,  attended  by  the 
principal  persons  of  the  country  who  join  in  the  ceremony,  hav- 
ing their  heads  shaved,  and  after  a  long  continence,  set  forward, 
not  as  they  are  inclined  themselves,  but  according  as  they  are 
impelled  by  the  God  whom  they  bear,  by  motions  resembling 
those  of  the  statues  of  Fortune  at  Antium."  —  We  may  add  here  a 
remark  on  another  Oracle;  that  it  was,  probably,  by  the  same 
kind  of  motions  of  the  statue  of  Jufiiter  Phlius,  that  his  priests 
delivered  their  Oracles,  as  may  be  seen  in  EUSEBIUS  and  in 
RUFINUS. 

4:t/2)   The  Oracle  of  Apollo  at  Delphoa, 

If  the  Oracle  of  Delphos  was  not  the  most 
ancient  of  those  of  Greece,  it  was  at  least  the 
most  celebrated,  and  that  which  continued 
longest.  To  relate  all  that  has  been  said  about  this  Oracle,  would 
oblige  me  to  copy  almost  all  the  ancient  authors,  and  not  a  few 
of  the  moderns:  and  therefore,  to  satisfy  those  who  are  not  fond 
of  long  narrations,  I  shall  only  give  an  abstract  of  its  history.  —  At 
what  lime  this  Oracle  was  founded  is  not  known;  which,  in  the 
first  place,  proves  it  to  be  of  great  antiquity,  nor  was  Apollo  the 
first  who  was  consulted  there.  DIODORUS  SICULUS,  who  was  at 
the  pains  to  inquire  into  the  origin  of  this  Oracle,  reports  a  tra- 
dition, which  he  had  taken  from  monuments  of  the  greatest  an- 
tiquity: Goats,  says  he,  that  were  feeding  in  the  valleys  of  Par- 
nassus, gave  rise  to  the  discovery  of  this  Oracle.  There  was,  in 
the  place  afterwards  called  the  Sanctuary,  a  hole,  the  mouth  of 
•which  was  very  straight.  These  Goats  having  come  near  it  with 


216    '  SUPERSTITIONS  OF    IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  Ill 

OF    OKACLES.  SEC.  I. 

their  heads,  began  to  leap  und  frisk  about  so  strangely,  that  the 
Shepherd,  being  struck  with  it,  came  up  to  the  place,  and  leaning- 
over  the  hole,  was  seized  with  a  fit  of  enthusiasm,  whereby  he 
was  prompted  to  utter  some  extravagant  expressions,  which 
passed  for  prophecies.  The  news  of  this  wonder  drew  thither  the 
people  of  the  neighbourhood,  who  no  sooner  approached  the  hule, 
than  they  too  were  transported  into  the  like  enthusiasm.  Sur- 
prised with  so  astonishing  a  prodigy,  they  supposed  it  to  proceed 
from  some  friendly  Deity,  or  from  the  earth  itself;  and  from  that 
time,  they  began  to  confer  a  particular  worship  upon  the  Divinity 
of  the  place,  and  to  look  upon  what  was  delivered  in  these  fits  of 
enthusiasm  as  predictions  and  Oracles.  The  place  where  this 
hole  was  observed,  was  on  a  rising  ground,  near  Parnassus,  a 
mountain  in  Phocis,  on  the  south  side;  and  here  they  afterwards 
built  the  temple  and  city  of  Delphos. 

•'  But  the  ancients  not  being  agreed  as  to  the 

Had  this*  Oracle  Gods  vv^°  ^lad  ll"s  oracle  successively,  it  is  ne- 
successively;  cessary  to  give  their  opinions.  ^ESCHYLUS,  in 

the  beginning  of  his  tragedy  of  the  Eumenides, 
says    Terra   was  the  first  who   gave  Oracles  there;    after  her 
Themis;  then  Pluebe,  another  daughter  of  Terra:  Phatbe  accord- 
ing to  the  mythologists,  was  mother  to  Latona,  and  grandmother 
to  Apollo;  and  he,  in  short,   was  \\\e.  fourth.    OVID  only  informs 
us,  that  Themis  delivered  Oracles  at  the  foot  of  Parnassus;  and 
that  Pyrrha  and  Deucalion  came  to  consult  her  about  the  means 
of  replenishing  the  earth,  whose  inhabitants  had  been  destroyed 
by  a  deluge.      PAUSANIAS  adds,  that  before  Themis,  Terra  and 
Neptune  had  likewise  given  their  Oracles  there;   and  if  we  take 
the  authority  of  the  old  s;  holiast  upon  LYCOPHRON,   Saturn  too, 
had  been  consulted  there  with  Neptune  and  Terra. 
=======        Several  Gods  having  given  Oracles  succes- 

t^  ,lC,/\  WHy  hir?8"  sivety'  tne  historians  and  poets  give  a  very  odd 
rily  or  by  force,  account  of  the  manner  of  their  transferring  their 

right.     Terra  and  Neptune  possessed  it  in  com- 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF    IDOLATRY.  217 

SEC.  I.  OF    ORACLES. 

mon;  with  this  difference,  that  Terra  gave  her  Oracles  herself, 
and  Nefitune  gave  his  by  the  ministration  of  a  priest  named 
Pyrcon.  From  Terra  the  Oracle  passed  to  Themis,  her  daugh- 
ter, who  possessed  it  sometime,  and  resigned  in  favour  of  Afiollo, 
whom  she  fondly  doated  upon:  but  according  to  an  ancient  tradi- 
tion, followed  by  EURIPIDES,  the  resignation  was  far  from  being 
voluntary.  APOLLO,  whom  Pan  had  taught  the  art  of  prediction, 
being  arrived  at  Parnassus,  with  the  equipage  described  by  HO- 
MER, that  is  clothed  in  his  immortal  robes,  perfumed  with  es- 
sences, and  in  his  hand  a  golden  lyre,  on  which  he  played  melo- 
dious airs,  seized  the  sanctuary  by  force,  slew  the  dragon,  which 
Terra  had  posted  there  to  be  the  keeper,  and  made  himself  master 
of  the  Oracle.  Ne/itune,  who  likewise  had  his  share  therein,  not 
being  inclined  to  dispute  it  with  his  nephew,  exchanged  with  him 
for  the  island  of  Calauria,  over  against  Trezene.  From  that  time, 
none  but  dfiollo  delivered  Oracles  at  Delphos. — It  is  easy  to  per- 
ceive, that  this  fiction  had  no  other  fou&datidh  but  the  interest  of 
the  priests,  who  seeing  the  zeal  of  the  people  become  cool,  tried 
to  awaken  it,  by  presenting  them  with  new  objects  of  worship. 
=====  Whatever  be  in  that,  the  Oracle  of  dfiolio  got 
came  highly  cele-  tne  better  of  all  the  rest,  both  in  its  high  reputa- 
brated.  tjon>  ant]  jong  standing.  Thither  they  flocked 

fiom  all  parts  to  consult  the  God;  Greeks  and 
Barbarians,  princes  and  private  persons,  men  of  all  characters, 
upon  every  minute  enterprize,  as  well  as  affairs  of  great  impor- 
tance, came  to  Delphos,  either  in  person,  or  sent  a  deputation,  to 
know  the  will  of  jipotlo.  Hence  the  vast  donations,  and  immense 
riches,  wherewith  the  temple  and  city  were  filled,  and  which  be- 
came so  considerable,  as  to  be  compared  to  those  of  the  Persian 
kings. 


218  SUPERSTITIONS  OF    IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 


OF    ORACLES. 


•         About  the  time  when  this  Oracle  was  first  dis- 
How  the  Inspi-  .  .  .      .       . 

ration  was  acqui-    covered,  all  the  mystery  requisite  to  obtain  the 

red;    by     whom    prophetic  gift,  was  to  approach  the  cavern,  and 

delivered;       and     ) 

when.  inhale  the  vapour  which  issued  from  it;  and  at 

==="^="=====:  that  time,  the  Gud  inspired  all  sorts  of  persons 
indifferently:  but  at  length,  several  of  those  enthusiasts,  in  the 
excess  of  their  fury,  having  thrown  themselves  headlong  into 
the  gulf,  they  thought  fit  to  provide  a  remedy  against  that  acci- 
dent, which  frequently  happened.  They  set  over  the  hole  a  ma- 
chine, which  they  called  a  trijiod.  because  it  had  three  feet,  and 
commissioned  a  woman  to  get  upon  this  sort  of  chair,  whence  she 
might  catch  the  exhalation  without  any  danger,  because  the  three 
feet  ol  the  machine  stood  upon  the  rock.  This  priestess  was 
called  Pythia,  from  the  serpent  Python,  slain  by  Jjiollo,  as  we 
shall  see  in  his  history.  At  first  there  were  promoted  to  this 
ministration,  young  women,  who  were  yet  virgins,  and  great  pre- 
caution was  taken  in  the  choice  of  them.  The  Pythia  was  ordi- 
narily chosen  from  a  poor  family,  where  she  had  lived  in  obscurity, 
free  from  luxury,  and  affectation  of  dress,  and  other  gaudy  orna- 
ments with  which  young  women  set  themselves  to  show.  Igno- 
rance itself  was  one  of  the  things  that  qualified  them  for  being 
promoted  to  this  dignity,  and  no  more  was  required  in  her  who 
was  to  be  elected,  but  to  be  able  to  speak  and  repeat  what  the 
God  dictated.  The  custom  of  choosing  young  virgins  lasted  very 
long,  and  would  have  been  continued,  had  it  not  been  for  an 
accident  which  occasioned  its  being  abolished:  A  young  Thes- 
salian  named  Echecraies,  being  at  Delphos.  fell  in  love  with  the 
priestess,  who  was  extremely  beautiful,  and  ravished  her.  To 
prevent  any  abuses  of  the  like  nature  for  the  future,  the  people 
of  Delphos  made  an  express  law,  ordaining  that  none  should  be 
chosen  but  women  above  fifty  years  old. — At  first  they  had  only 
one  priestess,  and  she  sufficed  for  giving  responses  to  those  who 
came  to  Delphos;  but  in  aftertimes  there  were  two  or  three  of 


CHAP.  in.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY. 

SEC.  I.  OF    OKACLES. 

them. — The  Oracles  were  not  delivered  every  day;  sacrifices, 
repeated  over  and  over  again,  until  the  God  whose  will  they  ex- 
pressed, was  pleased,  consumed  frequently  a  whole  year;  and  it 
was  only  once  a  year,  in  the  beginning  of  spring,  that  Afiollo  in- 
spired the  priestess.  Except  on  this  set  clay,  the  priestess  was 
forbid,  under  pain  of  death,  to  go  into  the  sanctuary  to  consult 
Apollo.  Alexander,  who  before  his  expedition  to  Asia,  came  to 
Delphos,  on  one  of  those  silent  days  during  which  the  sanctuary 
was  shut,  entreated  the  priestess  to  mount  the  tripod:  she  refu- 
sed, and  quoted  the  law  which  stood  in  her  way.  This  prince 
being  naturally  hasty,  and  impatient  to  set  out,  drew  the  priestess 
by  force  from  her  cell,  and  was  leading  her  himself  to  the  sanc- 
tuary; which  gave  her  occasion  to  say,  "  my  son,  thou  art  in-vinci- 
ble." At  these  words,  he  cried  out  that  he  was  satisfied,  and 
would  have  no  other  Oracle. 

•  As  nothing  served  so  much  to  raise  or  keep 

The  ceremony  .          c         _ 

of  receiving  the     UP  l^e   reputation  of  an  Oracle,  as  that  air  of 

Response.  mystery  which  was  given  to  every  thing  about 

it,  we  may  be  sure  that  nothing  was  neglected 
at  Delphos  to  procure  it  -veneration.  They  used  infinite  precau- 
tion in  choosing  the  victims,  inspecting  the  entrails,  and  in  the 
omens  they  drew  from  them.  The  neglecting  the  smallest  punc- 
tilio, was  a  sufficient  motive  to  renew  the  sacrifices  that  were  to 
precede  the  response  of  Apollo,  and  they  repeated  them  till  all 
was  right.  The  priestess  herself  made  great  preparation  for 
discharging  her  duty:  she  fasted  three  days,  and  before  she 
mounted  the  trifiod,  she  bathed  herself  in  the  fountain  of  Casta- 
lia.  There  she  ordinarily  washed  \\erfeei  and  hands^  sometimes 
her  whole  body;  and  she  swallowed  a  certain  quantity  of  water 
from  the  fountain,  because  Afiollo  was  thought  to  have  commu- 
nicated to  it  a  part  of  his  enthusiastic  virtue.  After  this  she  was 
made  to  chew  some  leaves  of  the  laurel  tree,  gathered  near  the 
fountain;  for  the  laurel  was  the  symbol  of  divination,  and  wanted 


220  SUPERSTITIONS  OF    IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    OKACLES.  SEC.   I. 

not  its  influence  to  promote  enthusiasm.  After  these  prepara- 
tions, d/iollo  gave  signals  himself  of  his  arrival  in  the  temple; 
the  whole  fabric,  by  I  know  not  what  artifice,  trembled  and  shook 
to  its  very  foundations,  as  likewise  a  laurel  tree  which  was  at  the 
entry  of  the  temple.  Then  the  priests,  who  were  likewise  called 
prophets,  took  hold  of  the  priestess,  led  her  into  the  sanctuary, 
and  placed  her  upon  the  trifiod.  As  soon  as  she  began  to  be  agi- 
tated by  the  divine  exhalation,  you  might  have  seen  her  hair  stand 
on  end,  her  mein  grow  wild  and  ghastly,  her  mouth  begin  to  foam, 
and  her  whole  body  suddenly  seized  with  violent  trembling.  In  this 
plight  she  attempted  to  get  away  from  the  prophets,  who  were 
holding  her,  as  it  were,  by  force,  while  her  shrieks  and  howlings 
made  the  whole  temple  resound,  and  filled  the  by-standers  with 
a  sacred  horror.  In  fine,  being  no  longer  able  to  resist  the  im- 
pulse, she  gave  herself  up  to  the  God,  and  at  certain  intervals  ut- 
tered some  incoherent  words,  which  the  prophets  carefully  picked 
up,  arranged  them  in  order,  and  put  them  in  form  of  -verse.  The 
Oracle  being  pronounced,  she  was  taken  down  from  the  trifiod 
and  conducted  back  to  her  cell,  \\here  she  continued  for  several 
days,  to  reco\er  herself  from  the  conflict.  We  are  told  by  Lu- 
CAN,  that  sfieedy  death  was  frequently  the  consequence  of  her 
enthusiasm. 

==============         As  the  priestess  was  only  the  instrument  made 

Other  Ministers 
of  the  Oracle  of    use  °*  to  revea'  t'ie  w"'  W  •apQUO,  so  the  Oracle 

•Apollo-  had  several  other  ministers,  priests  or  prophets, 

\\ho  took  care  of  every  thing  belonging  to  it; 
•who  chose  the  victims;  offered  up  the  sacrifices;  repeated  them 
when  they  were  not  propitious;  conducted  the  priestess  to  the 
trifiod,  where  they  placed  her  in  a  convenient  posture  for  receiv- 
ing all  the  vafiour  that  issued  from  the  cave,  at  the  mouth  of 
•which  she  sat;  put  her  words  together,  and  delivered  them  to  the 
poets,  who  were  another  sort  of  ministers,  by  whom  they  were 
put  into  verse.  From  a  passage  in  PLUTARCH,  it  appears,  that 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  221 

SEC.   I.  OF    OKACLES. 

three  poets,  together  with  the  prophets,  were  about  the  priestess 
when  she  pronounced  the  words  which  the  God  dictated  to  her. 
The  verses  composed  by  those  poets,  were  often  stiff,  of  a  wretch- 
ed composition,  and  always  obscure;  which  gave  occasion  to  that 
piece  of  raillery,  that  slpollo  the  prince  of  the  Muse s^noas  the  'worst 
of  poets.  Sometimes  the  priestess  herself  pronounced  her  Ora- 
cles in  verse,  at  least  we  are  told  so  of  one  of  them,  called  I'he- 
momon'oe;  but  in  later  times  they  contented  themselves  with  de- 
livering them  in  prose;  and  this  PLUTARCH  reckons  to  have  been 
the  cause  of  the  declension  of  the  Oracle. — There  were  belong- 
ing to  this  Oracle  several  other  ministers,  whose  names  and  func- 
tions may  be  seen  in  the  third  dissertation  of  M.  HARDION;  inso- 
much that,  as  M;  FONTENELLE  has  it,  the  whole  town  of  Delphos 
was  opulently  maintained  by  the  Oracle — The  sanctuary  where 
the  priestess  was,  being  covered  with  branches  of  laurel,  she  her- 
self surrounded  with  prophets  and  poets,  and  there  being  two 
women  besides  to  hinder  the  piofane  from  coming  near  her,  it 
was  difficult  to  know  precisely  what  was  done  there;  and  had  it 
not  been  for  persons  of  curiosity,  who  pried  more  narrowly  into 
the  secret  of  the  priesthood,  we  should  not  have  been  able  to 
speak  so  positively  as  we  have  done,  concerning  the  manner  in 
which  this  Oracle  was  delivered. 

5lh,   The  Oracle  of  Trophonius  in  Lebadea. 

••     '  Though  Trophonius  was  only  a  hero-,  nay,  ac- 

this  Oracle*1"  cording  to  some  authors,  an  execrable  robber; 
.  yet  he  had  an  Oracle  in  Bceotia,  which  became 

exceedingly  famous,  and  where  grand  ceremonies  were  used, 
before  obtaining  the  responses.  As  to  the  time  when  the  Oracle 
of  Trophonius  was  founded,  we  are  not  able  to  determine:  only 
we  know  from  PAUSANIAS,  that  he  was  not  heard  of  in  Boeotia  it- 
self, till  that  country  being  distressed  with  a  great  drought,  they 
had  recourse  to  Jlpallo  at  Delphos,  to  learn  from  that  God,  by 
2  E 


222  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 


OF    ORACLES. 

what  means  they  might  put  a  stop  to  the  famine.  The  priestess 
answered,  that  they  were  to  apply  themselves  to  Trofihonius, 
whom  they  would  find  in  Lebadea.  The  deputies  obeyed;  but  not 
being  able  to  find  an  Oracle  in  that  city,  &zon,the  oldest  of  them, 
spied  a  swarm  of  Bees;  and  observing  that  they  flew  towards  a 
Cave,  he  followed  them,  and  thus  discovered  the  Oracle.  They 
say,  continues  PAUSANIAS,  that  T'rofihonius  himself  instructed 
him  in  all  the  ceremonies  of  his  worship,  and  after  what  manner 
he  would  be  honoured  and  consulted;  which  makes  me  think  ^that 
this  Saon  was  himself  the  founder  of  that  Oracle,  which,  no 
doubt,  was  instituted  upon  occasion  of  the  famine  I  have  men- 
tioned. As  nobody  has  described  it  more  fully  and  more  accu- 
rately than  PAUSANIAS  who  had  consulted  it,  and  submitted  to  all 
its  irksome  formalities,  we  cannot  do  better  than  transcribe  what 
he  says  of  this  personage  and  his  Oracle.  Erginus^  says  he,  son 
of  Clymcnus  king  of  Orchomenos,  being  far  advanced  in  years, 
and  inclined  to  marry,  came  to  consult  the  Oracle  of  Afiollo^ 
whether  he  should  have  children.  The  priestess  puzzled  with  his 
question,  answered  him  in  enigmatical  terms,  that  though  he  was 
rather  too  late  in  coming  to  a  resolution,  yet  he  might  entertain 
good  hopes  if  he  married  a  young  woman.  Conformably  to  this 
response,  he  married  a  young  wife,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons, 
Trofihonius  and  Agamedes,  who,  both  of  them,  became  afterwards 
great  architects.  By  them  was  built  the. temple  of  Afiollo  at  Del- 
phos,  and  Hy ileus's  treasure-house.  In  the  construction  of  this 
latter  edifice  they  had  recourse  to  a  secret  stratagem,  known  to 
none  but  themselves:  by  means  of  a  stone  in  the  wall,  which  they 
had  the  art  of  taking  out  and  putting  in  again,  so  that  nobody 
could  discover  them,  they  had  access  every  night  to  this  treasu- 
ry, and  robbed  Hyrieus  of  his  money.  He  observing  his  money 
diminished,  and  yet  no  appearance  of  the  doors  having  been 
opened,  sr t  a  trap  about  the  vessels  which  contained  his  treasure, 
and  there  Jgamedes  was  caught.  Trojihonius  not  knowing  how 


CHAP.  IH.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  223 

SEC.  I.  OF    ORACLES. 

to  extricate  him,  and  fearing  lest  if  he  was  the  next  day  put  to  the 
rack,  he  should  discover  the  secret,  cut  off  his  head. —  Without 
entering  into  a  critical  examination  of  this  story,  -which  seems  to 
be  but  a  copy  of  what  HERODOTUS  fully  relates  of  one  of  the 
kings  of  Egypt,  and  two  brothers  who  robbed  his  treasure,  by  a 
like  stratagem,  I  would  have  it  be  observed,  that  PAUSANIAS 
gives  us  no  account  of  the  life  of  Trofihonius;  only  as  to  the  man- 
ner of  his  death  he  tells  us,  that  the  earth  opened  and  swallowed 
him  up  alive,  and  that  the  place  where  it  happened  was  still  called 
at  that  day,  Agamtdejs  pit,  which. was  to  be  seen  in  a  sacred 
grove  of  Lebaclea,  with  a  pillar  set  over  it. — The  death  of  those 
two  brothers  is  told  otherwise  by  PLUTARCH,  who  cites  PINDAR. 
After  the  building  of  the  temple  of  Delphos,  whose  foundation 
was  laid  by  Afiollo  himself,  as  it  is  in  HOMER,  they  asked  their 
reward  of  that  God,  who  ordered  them  to  wait  eight  days,  and  in 
the  mean  time  to  make  merry;  but  at  the  expiration  of  that  term 
they  were  found  dead. 

•••  Lebadea,  continues  PAUSANIAS,  is  a  city  as 

The  manner  of  ^ 

consulting     this    mucn  adorned  as  any  throughout  Greece:  the 

Oracle,  &c.  sacred  Grove  of  Trofihonius  is  but  a  very  little 

distance  from  it,  and  in  this  grove  is  the  Tem- 
ple of  Trofihonius,  with  his  Statue,  which  is  the  work  of  Praxi- 
letes.  They  who  come  to  consult  his  Oracle,  must  perform  cer- 
tain ceremonies.  Before  they  go  down  into  the  Cave  where  the 
res/ionseis  given,  they  must  pass  some  days  in  a  chapel  dedicated 
to  good  Genius  and  to  fortune.  That  time  is  spent  in  purification, 
by  abstinence  from  all  things  unlawful,*and  in  making  use  of  the 
cold  bath,  the  warm  baths  being  prohibited;  thus,  the  suppliant  is 
not  allowed  to  wash  himself,  unless  in  the  water  of  the  river 
Hercyna.  He  must  sacrifice  to  Trofihonius  and  all  his  familyi  to 
Jufiiter  surnamed  King,  to  Saturn,  to  Ceres  sutnamed  Eurofia, 
who  was  believed  to  have  been  Trofihonius' s  nurse;  thus  the  God 
had  plentiful  provision  of  flesh  offered  to  him  in  sacrifice.  There 


224  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  ill. 

OF   OKACLE3.  SEC.   I. 

•were  Dinners  also  to  consul' "the  entrails  of  every  victim,  to 
know  if  it  was  agreeable  to  Trophonius  that.4he  person  should 
come  down  into  his  Cerix-ybut  lie  especially  revealed  his  mind  by 
the  entrails  of  a  ram,  which  was  offered  up  to  him  last  of  all.  If 
the  Omens  were  favourable,  the  suppliant  was  led  that  night  to 
the  river  ffercyna,  where  two  boys  about  twelve  or  thirteen  years 
old,  anointed  his  whole  body  with  oil.  Then  he  was  conducted 
as  far  as  the  source  of  the  river,  and  was  made  to  drink  two  sorts 
of  water;  that  of  Lethe.,  which,  effaced  from  his  mind  all  profane 
thoughts,  and  that  of  Mnemosyne,  which  had  the  quality  of  ena- 
bling him  to  retain  whatever  he  was  to  see  in  the  sacred  Cave. 
After  all  this  apparatus,  the  priests  presented  to  him  the  statue 
of  Trophonius,  to  which  he  was  to  address  a  prayer:  then  he  got 
a  linen  tunic  to  put  on,  which  was  adorned  with  sacred  fillets; 
and  after  all,  was  solemnly  conducted  to  the  Oracle. — This  Ora- 
cle was  upon  a  mountain,  with  an  inclosure  made  of  white  stones, 
upon  which  were  erected  obelisks  of  brass.  In  this  enclosure  was 
a  Cave  of  the  figure  of  an  oven,  cut  out  by  art.  The  mouth  of  it 
was  narrow,  and  the  descent  into  it  was  not  by  steps,  but  by  a 
small  ladder.  When  they  were  got  down,  they  found  another 
small  Cave,  the  entrance  to  which  was  very  straight:  the  suppliant 
pi  ostrated  himself  on  the  ground,  carrying  a  certain  composition 
of  honey  in  either  hand,  without  which  he  is  not  admitted;  he 
first  puts  down  his  feet  into  the  mouth  of  the  Cave,  and  instantly 
his  whole  body  is  forcibly  drawn  in.  They  who  were  admitted, 
•were  favoured  with  revelations,  but  not  all  in  the  same  manner: 
some  had  the  knowledge'of  futuiity  by  vision,  others  by  an  audi- 
ble voice.  Hd\ing  got  their  response,  they  came  out  of  the  Cave 
the  same  way  they  went  in,  prostrated  on  the  ground,  and  their 
feet  foremost.  Then  the  suppliant  was  conducted  to  the  chair 
of  Mnemosyne,  and  theie  being  set  clown,  was  interrogated  as  to 
what  he  had  seen  or  heaid:  from  that  he  was  brought  back  quite 
stupified  and  benseless,  into  the  chapel  of  good  Genius,  till  he 


CHAP.  III.  MACHINERY  OF  IDOLATRY.  225 

SEC.    I.  OF   ORACLES. 

should  recover  his  senses;  after  which  he  was  obliged  to  write 
down  in  a  table-book,  all  that  he  had  seen  or  heard;  which  the 
priests  interpreted  in  their  own  way.  PAL  SAM  AS  adds,  that  there 
never  had  been  any  but  one  man  who  entered  Trofihonius's  Cave 
without  coming  out  again.  This  was  a  spy  sent  thither  by  De- 
metrius, to  see  whether  in  that  holy  place  there  was  any  thing 
worth  plundering.  His  body  was  found  far  from  thence,  and  it  is 
likely  that  his  design  being  discovered,  the  priests  assassinated 
him  in  the  Cave,  and  carried  out  his  body  by  some  passage, 
whereby  they  themselves  came  into  the  Cave  without  being  per- 
ceived. The  same  author  concludes:  "  What  I  have  wrote  is  not 
founded  upon  hearsay;  Trelate  what  I  have  seen  happen  to  others, 
and  what  happened  to  myself:  for  to  be  assured  of  the  truth,  I 
went  down  into  the  Cave  and  consulted  the  Oracle."  PLUTARCH 
who  tells  us  that  in  his  time  all  the  Oracles  of  Boeotia  had  ceased, 
except  that  of  Tro/ihonius,  makes  mention  in  his  treatise  concern- 
ing SOCBATES'S  genius,  of  one  Timaduis,  who  gave  account  of, 
what  he  pretended  to  have  seen  in  Trofihonius's  Cave;  but  he 
seems  to  have  been  but  an  impostor,  who  regards  not  whether 
the  thing  be  true  or  false,  but  only  cares  that  it  be  wonderful  or 
extraordinary;  and  therefore  deserves  much  less  to  be  believed 
than  PAUSANIAS. 

6th,  Other  Oracles  of  less  note. 

•  After  having  spoken  at  some  length  of  the 

Other    Oracles 
of  Apollo.  principal  Oracles,  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  say 

— • »  something  of  those  that  were  of  less  note.  Afiol- 
lo,  of  all  the  Gods,  had  the  greatest  number,  of  which  I  shall 
name  the  principal:  1st,  That  of  CYuros,  a  town  in  Ionia,  near  Co- 
lophon, though  of  less  antiquity  than  several  others,  was  yet  very 
famous,  and  very  often  consulted.  The  city  Claros  is  thought  to 
have  been  founded  by  Munto,  the  d-aighter  of  Tireaiaft,  after  the 
second  war  of  Thebes,  some  years  before  the  taking  of  Troy. 
This  daughter,  of  whom  antiquity  tells  many  wonders,  with  re- 


226  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    ORACLES.  SEC.  I. 

spect  to  her  prophetic  gifts,  depleting  the  miseries  of  her  coun- 
try, melted  into  tears,  and  those  tears  formed  a  fountain  and  a 
lake,  whose  water  communicated  the  gift  of  prophecy  to  those 
who  drank  it:  but  the  water  not  being  wholesome,  it  likewise 
brought  on  diseases,  and  was  a  means  of  shortening  life.  2d, 
There  was  one,  and  that  a  very  famous  one  too,  in  the  suburbs  of 
Daft/me  at  Antioch.  3d,  According  to  LUCAN  there  was  one  in 
the  island  of  Detos,  the  supposed  birth-place  of  that  God.  4th, 
According  to  HERODOTUS,  he  had  one  at  Didyone  among  the 
Branchid*.  5th,  He  had  one  at  Jrgos,  as  \ve  learn  from  PAUSA- 
NIAS.  6th  and  7th,  He  had  one  in  Troas,  and  another  in  Eolis, 
according  to  STEPHANUS.  8th,  CAPITOLINUS  informs  us  of  one 
at  Baix  in  Italy:  and  besides  the  above  cited,  there  were  Oracles 
of  Afiollo,  in  Cilicia,  in  Laconia,  in  Arcadia,  at  Corinth,  in  Thrace, 
and  in  the  Aljis;  in  fine,  in  an  infinity  of  other  places,  as  may  be 
seen  in  the  modern  author  just  cited. 

•  Though  the  other  Gods  had  not  an  equal 

number  of  Orycles  with  d/iollo,  the  God  of  divi- 
nation,  yet,  in  process  of  time,  almost  every  one 
of  them  had  his  Oracle.  Jujiiter  had  several  of  them,  besides 
that  of  Hammon  aforementioned,  as  well  as  that  of  Dodona  and 
some  others,  whereof  he  shared  the  honour  with  Apollo.  1st,  He 
had  one  in  Bceutia  under  the  name  of  Jufiiter  the  thunderer.  2d, 
He  had  one  in  Elis.  3d  and  4th,  He  had  one  at  Thebes,  and  ano- 
ther at  Meroe.  5th,  He  had  one  at  dntioch,  and  several  others. 

1         We  shall  give  a  slight  glance  at  the  Oracles 

of°slhv7ral°rother    of  other  Gods  in  numerical  order.     1st,  Osiris, 

Deities.  jsfs^  antj  Seraflis,  delivered  Oracles  by  dreams, 

as  we  learn  from   PAUSANIAS,  TACITUS,  AR- 

RIAN,  and  several  others This  manner  of  givii  g  Oracles,  to 

mention  it  by  the  by,  was  very  common.  Sera/ns  had  an  Ora- 
cle at  Alexandria,  which  Vespasian  went  to  consult:  the  priest 
who  ministered  to  the  God,  would  only  reveal  to  him  in  secret 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  227 

SEC.  I.  OF    ORACLES. 

what  he  had  to  tell  him  concerning  the  grand  designs  he  had  in 
view.  It  was  a  very  rare  thing  for  those  who  came  to  consult  the 
Oracles,  to  be  permitted  to  enter  the  sanctuary;  and  VAN  DALE, 
who  has  exhausted  the  subject,  finds  but  two  examples  of  it,  viz. 
that  of  Alexander,  who  as  PLUTARCH  reports  after  CALISTHENES, 
entered  alone  into  the  sanctuary  of  Hammon;  and  that  of  Vespa- 
sian, who,  according  to  TACITUS,  was  introduced  into  that  of 
Serapis. — 2d,  The  Ox'./f//z>  had  also  his  Oracle  in  Egypt:  the 
manner  of  consulting  him  was  singular:  If  he  eat  what  was  of- 
fered him  by  the  suppliant,  it  was  a  good  sign;  but  a  bad  one  when 
he  refused  it;  as  it  happened  to  GERMANIC  us: — Whereon  we 
will  remark  that  it  was  much  the  same  with  the  ceremony  prac- 
tised at  Rome.  When  they  drew  good  or  bad  omens  from  what 
they  called  their  sacred  Chickens;  as  if  the  events  of  futurity  had 
depended  upon  the  good  appetite  or  full  stomach  of  an  Ox  or 
Chickens. — 3d,  The  Gods  called  Cabiri,  if  we  may  credit  ST. 
ATHANASIUS,  had  their  Oracles  in  Baotia, — 4th,  Mercury  delivered 
Oracles  at  Patras  upon  Hemon,  and  in  other  places. — 5th,  Mars 
delivered  Oracles  in  Thrace-,  Egypt,  and  elsewhere. — 6th,  Diana 
the  sister  of  Apollo  had  not  a  few:  she  had  one  in  Egypt,  one  in 
Ciiicia,  and  one  at  Ephesus,  not  to  mention  several  others. — 7th, 
Juno  likewise  had  many  Oracles;  of  which  one  was  near  Corinth, 
another  at  A'ysa,  and  others  elsewhere.— 8ih,  Minerva,  surnamed 
fatidica,  of  consequence  was  not  without  her  Oracles:  she  had 
one  in  Egypt,  one  'vn'Sfiain,  one  upon  mount  Etna,  one  at  Myce- 
na,  one  in  Colchis.,  and  elsewhere.— 9th,  Latona,  according  to 
HERODOTUS,  had  an  Oracle  r,t  Bates  in  Egypt. —  10th,  Those  of 
Venus  were  dispersed  in  sundry  places;  at  Gaza,  upon  mount 
Libanus,  at  Paphas,  in  Cyprus.  I  cannot'pass  in  silence  that  of 
Venus  Ajihacite,  mentioned  by  ZOZIMUS,  which  was  consulted  by 
the  Palmarenians,  who  revolted  under  the  reign  of  Aurelian  about 
272  years  since  the  birth  of  CHRIST.  At  Aphaca,  a  place  between 
Heliopclis  and  Bydlos,  Venus  had  a  temple,  near  which  was  a  lake 


SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    ORACLES.  SEC.    I. 

resembling  a  cistern.  They  who  came  to  consult  the  Oracle  of 
that  Goddess,  threw  presents  into  the  lake;  and  it  was  no  matter 
of  what  kind  they  were:  if  they  were  acceptable  to  Venus,  they 
went  to  the  bottom;  if  she  rejected  them,  they  swam  on  the  sur- 
face, even  .though  of  gold  or  silver.  The  historian  whom  I  have 
quoted  subjoins,  that  in  the  ye.ir  which  preceded  the  ruin  of  the 
Palmarenians,  their  presents  sunk  to  the  bottom,  but.  that  in  the 
following  year  they  floated  on  the  surface.  —  llth.  The  Oracles  of 
Nefitune  were  at  Del/ihos,  at  Calauna  near  Neocesarea,  and  else- 
where. —  12th,  Pan  had  several  Oracles,  the  most  famous  of  which 
was  in  Arcadia.  —  13th,  Saturn  also  had  several  Oracles;  but  the 
most  famous  of  them  were,  that  of  Cumte  in  Italy,  and  that  of 
Alexandria  in  Egypt.  —  14th,  Pluto,  as  we  learn  from  STRABO, 
had  one  at  Nysa.:  —  15th,  The  Nymphs  had  their  Oracles  in  the 
cave  of  Cory  da. 

...  Nor  was  it  only  the  Gods  who  had  Oracles; 

the  ^emi-Gods  and  Heroes  had  theirs  likewise. 


roes,  and  Kmpe-  istj  Hercules  had  his  at  Gades,  now  Cadiz;  at 
—  Athens;  in  Egyfit;  at  Tivoli,  which  was  given  by 

lots  as  STATIUS  tells  us,  much  after  the  manner  of  that  of  For- 
tune at  Preneste  and  at  Antium;  he  had  an  Oracle  in  Mesopotamia, 
where  according  to  TACITUS,  he  gave  his  Oracles  by  dreams, 
whence  he  got  the  name  of  Somnialis,  as  may  be  seen  in  an  in- 
scription of  SPON,  and  in  another  recited  by  REINESIUS.—  2d,  It 
is  hardly  credible  that  Geryon,  the  three-headed  monster  who 
was  sluin  by  Hercules,  should  have  had  an  Oracle!  He  had  one 
however,  as  well  as  his  conqueror.  This  Oracle  was  in  Italy  near 
Padua,  and  SUETONIUS  tells  us  that  Tiberius  went  to  consult  it. 
There,  we  are  told,  was  the  fountain  of  A/IOJIUS,  which,  if  we  may 
believe  CLAUDIAN,  restored  speech  to  the  dumb,  and  cured  all 
sorts  of  diseases.—  3d,  sEsculajiius  was  consulted  in  Cilicia,  -AiAfiol- 
lonia,  in  the  isle  of  Cos,  at  Pergamus,  Epidaurus,  Rome,  and  else- 
where. —  4th,  LUTATIUS  speaks  of  the  Oracle  of  Castor  and  Pol- 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.  229 

SEC.  I.  OF    ORACLES. 

lux,  which  was  at  Lacedemon. — 5th,  BARTHIUS  makes  mention 
of  that  of  Amphiaraus,  at  Oropus  in  Macedonia. — 6th,  Mopsus 
likewise  had  one  in  Cilicia,  as  we  learn  from  the  Ancients. — 7th, 
The  head  of  Orpheus,  according  to  OVID,  delivered  responses  at 
Lesbos; — 8\\\,Amphilochius,&\.Mallos; — 9th,  Sarpedon,  in  Troas; — 
10th,  Hermione,  in  Macedonia; — llth,  and  Pasiphae,  in  Laconia, 
as  we  learn  from  TERTULLIAN. —  12th,  Chalcas delivered  respon- 
ses in  Italy;—-  13th,  Aristceus^'m  Baotia; — 14th,  Autolycus,  at  Si- 
nope; — 15th,  Phryxus,  among  the  Colchi; — 16th,  and  Rhesus  at 
Pangea. —  17th,  Ulysses,  if  we  may  believe  the  old  commentator 
on  Lycophron,  likewise  had  an  Oracle; — 18th,  so  had  Zamolxis, 
among  the  Get.es,  as  STRABO  assures  us. —  19th  and  20th,  Even 
Efihestion  too,  Alexander's  minion;  and  Antinous,  minion  of  Ha- 
drian, had  Oracles:  After  the  death  of  Efihestion,  nothing  would 
satisfy  Alexander,  but  to  have  him  made  a  God;  and  all  the  cour- 
tiers of  that  prince  consented  to  it  without  the  least  hesitation: 
whereupon  Temples  were  built  to  him  in  several  towns;  Festi- 
vals instituted  to  his  honour;  Sacrifices  offered;  Cures  ascribed  to 
him;  and  Oracles  given  out  in  his  name.  And  Hadrian  practised 
the  same  fooleries  towards  Antinous;  he  caused  the  city  Antino- 
fiolis  to  be  built,  to  his  memory,  gave  him  temples,  and  prophets 
to  deliver  his  oracles — for  prophets  belong  to  oracular  temples 
only,  says  ST.  JEROM.  We  have  still  a  Greek  inscription  to  this 
purpose,  To  Antinous,  the  companion  of  the  Gods  of  Egypt;  M. 
Ulfiius  Afiollonius  his  prophet.  After  this,  we  shall  not  be  sur- 
prised at  Augustus's  having  delivered  Oracles  at  Rome,  as  we 
learn  from  PRUDENTIUS.  These  modern  Oracles  however  were 
never  in  so  much  repute  as  the  ancient  ones,  and  they  made 
these  new-created  Gods  deliver  only  so  many  responses,  as  were 
thought  convenient  in  order  to  make  their  court  to  the  princes 
who  had  deified  them. 

2  F 


230  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 


OF    ORACLES. 


The  Fountains  too,  delivered  Oracles;  for  to 
each  of  them  tlivinity  was  ascribed:  such  in  par- 
ticular,  was  the  fountain  of  Castalia  at  Delphos; 
another  of  the  name  of  Castalia  in  the  suburbs  of  Antioch;  and 
the  firofihctic  Fountain  near  the  temple  of  Ceres  in  Achaia.  What 
PLINY  tells  us  of  that  of  Limyra,  is  very  singular;  it  gave  Ora- 
cles by  means  of  Fishes:  The  consulters  having  presented  food 
to  the  Fishes,  if  they  fell-to  greedily,  it  was  a  favourable  omen  for 
the  event  about  which  they  were  interrogated;  if  they  refused  the 
bait,  by  rejecting  it  with  their  tails,  it  betokened  bad  success. — 
But  there  would  be  no  end  of  it,  were  I  to  enumerate  all  the  Pa- 
gan Oracles.  VAN-DALE  after  having  discoursed  of  the  chief  of 
them,  contents  himself  with  naming  those  that  occur  at  the  end 
of  his  work;  a  list  of  which  he  had  collected  from  the  ancients: 
in  his  list,  which  may  be  consulted,  he  reckons  up  nearly  three 
hundred,  the  most  of  them  belonging  to  Greece.  But  certainly 
he  has  not  named  them  all;  for  there  were  few  temples  where 
there  was  not  an  Oracle,  or  some  other  sort  of  divination.  To  be 
short,  the  numerous  Oracles  we  have  just  glanced  over,  besides 
others  not  here  mentioned,  were  not  consulted  very  seriously; 
for  in  affairs  of  great  moment,  recourse  was  still  had  to  Del/ihos, 
to  Claras,  or  to  the  Cave  of  Trofihonius. 

•  Of  all  the  parts  of  Greece,  Bceotia  was  that 
Oracles     were        * .    ,    ,     ,  r    . 

owing  partly  to     w»lcn  had  most  Oracles,  upon  account  of  the 

the  instigation  of  mountains  and  caverns  with  which   it  abounded: 
the     Devil,     and 

chiefly  to  the  im-  for  it  is  proper  to  remark  with  M.  FONTENELLE, 

posture     of    the  .                .                  .                r       _        .         , 

priests.  that  nothing  suited  better  for  Oracles  than  cav- 

•  .  cms  and  mountains.  It  was  in  these  caves,  whose 
view  inspired  a  sort  of  religious  horror,  that  the  Priests  could 
artfully  contrive  passages  whereby  to  go  in,  and  come  out;  and 
convey,  without  being  perceived,  machines  and  hollow  statues 
within  which  they  hid  themselves,  to  give  more  efficacy  and  re- 
putation to  their  Oracles.    For  indeed,  although  I  am  persuaded 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP   IDOLATRY.  231 

SEC.  I.  OF    ORACLES. 

with  the  most  learned  fathers  of  the  church,  that  the  Devil  pre- 
sided over  Oracles,  and  that  it  was  he  himself  personally  present, 
or  the  Priests  acting  by  his  instigation^  who  delivered  responses 
concerning  future  events;  since,  let  men  say  what  they  will,  there 
is  no  other  possible  way  of  explaining  all  that  we  learn  from  an- 
tiquity relating  to  responses:  yet  I  am  fully  convinced,  that  the 
imfiosture  of  the  Priests  had  often,  nay,  for  the  most  part,  if  you 
will,  a  very  great  hand  in  them;  and  consequently  we  may  be- 
lieve, that  they  neglected  no  method  for  supporting  their  impos- 
tures. The  discovery,  which  DANIEL  made,  of  the  tricks  of  Belus's 
priests,  who  came  by  night  through  subterraneous  passages,  and 
carried  off  the  meat,  which  they  said  was  eat  up  by  the  God  him- 
self; this,  I  say,  is  a  convincing  proof  of  the  cheats  that  were 
practised  in  the  Pagan  temples;  a  proof  which  leaves  no  room  to 
doubt  but  the  like  tricks  were  used  in  the  Oracles.  Accordingly, 
when  the  Christian  religion  had  once  triumphed  over  idolatry, 
and  when  the  Oracles  were  abolished  with  it,  there  were  discove- 
ries made  in  the  caves  and  dens  where  there  had  been  Oracles, 
of  several  marks  of  the  fraud  and  im/iosture  of  the  ministers  who 
had  had  the  charge  of  them. 

•  To  conclude:  we  must  not  think,  that  all  the 

old     Oracles  we  have  been  speaking  of,  and  cthe  s, 


ones     declining-,    of  which  we  know  but  the  bare  names,  did  sub- 

and      new     ones 

coming  in  vogue,    sist   at  one  and  the   same  time.     1  here   were 

'  some  of  them  older,  some  of  them  later,  and  of 
all  dates,  from  that  of  Dodona,  which  was  looked  upon  as  the  most 
ancient,  down  to  that  of  Antinous^  which  may  be  reckoned  the 
last.  Sometimes  even  the  ancient  ones  came  to  be  laid  aside. 
Their  credit  was  lost,  either  by  discovering  the  impostures  of 
their  ministers,  or  by  wars,  which  lakl  waste  the  places  where 
they  were,  or  by  other  accidents  unknown.  One  .thing  we  know, 
that  the  immense  riches,  which  were  at  Delfi/ios,  had  frequently 
been  a  temptation  to  rifle  that  temple,  as  was  done  more  than 


232  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CHAP    ill 

OF    ORACLES.  SEC.  I. 

once;  though  at  the  same  time,  those  pillages  did  not  make  the 
Oracle  to  cease.  And  upon  the  ruin  of  some  Oracles,  they  took 
care  to  found  new  ones  in  their  room;  and  these,  in  their  turn, 
gave  place  to  others:  but  the  precise  time  of  the  declension  of 
many  of  those  Oracles,  and  of  the  institution  of  the  new,  is  not 
known. — The  Oracles  of  the  SIBYLS  next  demand  our  notice. 

7th,  The  Oracles  of  the  Sibyls. 

-••  ••  •  .am  GALL^US,  in  his  thirteenth  dissertation  upon 
m  "anWSybyl  deli-"  the  Sibyls'  explains  at  great  length  all  the  modes 
veredherOracles.  by  which  futurity  may  be  revealed  to  man.  He 
quotes  all  the  passages  of  Scripture,  wherein 
they  are  mentioned,  and  carefully  examines  in  what  sense  the 
Devil  may  be  said  to  foreknow  and  reveal  it.  I  have  no  mind  to 
follow  him  in  questions,  which  would  carry  me  too  far  into  spe- 
culation.— Let  us  resume  a  little  of  what  we  have  said  upon 
other  Oracles,  and  apply  it  to  those  of  the  Sibyls.  As  some  of  the 
Oracles  were  sometimes  pronounced  viva"iioce,  as  those  of  the 
Priestess  of  Delfihos;  so  the  Sibyl  of  Cuma  in  Italy  sometimes 
delivered  hers  in  the  same  manner,  since  Helenus  tells  JEneas, 
as  he  is  advising  him  to  consult  her  when  he  arrived  in  Italy,  to 
entreat  her  not  to  write  her  predictions  upon  leaves  of  trees,  as 
she  usually  did;  but  to  answer  him  in  the  manner  just  mentioned, 
viva  voce;  which  jEneas  literally  obeyed,  when  he  consulted  her. 
As  the  Priestess  of  Afwllo,  after  remaining  a  while  upon  the  Tri- 
flod,  turned;  furious,  and  in  the  transport  with  which  she  was  ac- 
tuatfd,  pronounced  her  Oracles;  so  the  Sibyl  was  seized  with  the 
same  fury  when  she  uttered  her  predictions:  As  there  were 
priests  at  Delphos,  whose  business  it  was  to  gather  up  what  the 
Priestess  pronounced  in  her  fury,  and  put  it  in  verse;  so  it  is  pro- 
bable, that  they  did  much  the  same  with  the  responses  of  the 
Sibyl,  since  all  those,  which  antiquity  has  transmitted  down  to  us, 
'are  likewise  in  verse.-—  VIRGIL  informs  us  of  the  singular  man- 
ner  how  the  Sibyl  of  Cu?n<e,  only,  was  wont  to  declare  her  Ora- 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF    IDOLATRY.  233 

SEC.  I.  OF    OUACLES. 

cles.  She  wrote  them  upon  the  leaves  of  a  tree,  which  she  ar- 
ranged in  order  at  the  entrance  to  her  cave;  and  it  required  one 
to  be  pretty  nimble  and  expeditious,  to  gather  up  the  leaves  in 
the  same  order  as  she  left  them.  For  if  they  happened  to  be  dis- 
composed by  the  wind,  or  any  other  accident,  all  was  lost;  and 
the  person  was  obliged  to  go  away  without  expecting  another 
response.  This  manner  of  the  Cumtsan  Sibyl's  delivering  her 
Oracles  was  by  no  means  a  fiction  of  the  poets;  it  was  an  ancient 
tradition  which  we  find  in  VARRO.  That  learned  Roman,  accor- 
ding to  SERVIUS,  says  expressly  in  his  book  of  divine  things,  that 
this  Sibyl  wrote  her  predictions  on  the  leaves  of  the  palm-tree. 
The  same  SERVIUS  likewise  informs  us,  that  she  had  three  ways 
of  delivering  her  Oracles,  either  by  word  of  mouth)  or  by  writing, 
or  by  signs.  It  may  be  asked  what  the  author  means  by  those 
signs;  but  since  he  tells  us  himself  they  were  marks  like  those 
which  were  formed  upon  the  obelisk  that  had  been  carried  from 
Egypt  to  Rome;  it  is  plain,  that  he  has  in  his  view  that  hierogly- 
phical  writing,  in  use  among  the  Egyptians,  and  which  was  upon 
the  obelisk  that  was  at  Rome,  as  to  which  PLINY  may  be  consulted. 
These  Oracles  were  delivered  in  other  different  ways,  either  in  a 
dream,  or  by  letters  under  seal,  8cc.  In  fine,  nothing  was  more 
famous  in  Italy  than  the  Cave  where  this  Sibyl  had  delivered  her 
Oracles.  ARISTOTLE  mentions  it  as  a  place  of  great  curiosity; 
and  VIRGIL  gives  a  very  magnificent  description  of  it.  Religion 
had  consecrated  this  Cave  and  made  a  Temple  of  it  as  we  have 
already  seen.  As  to  the  other  Sibyls,  it  is  not  certainly  known  in 
what  manner  they  delivered  their  Oracles. 

=======         Under  the  head  of  their  Oracles  it  cannot  be 

The      SIBYL- 
LINE VERSES; —    amiss  to  treat  of  the  Sibylline  Verses,  whose  pre- 

colTectedf    WeiC     dictions  were>  to  the  Romans  especially,  a  kind 

'  o.  standing  Oracle,  consulted  upon  all  occasions 

wherein  the  Republic  was  threatened  with  any  disaster. — As  to 

the  manner  how  the  collection  of  these  verses  was  made,  it  is  not 


234  SUPERSTITIONS  OF    IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    OKACLES.  SEC.   I. 

known.  It  is  not  likely  that  the  Sibyls  prophesied  in  verse,  far 
less  that  they  themselves  kept  their  predictions,  and  digested 
them  in  order.  Besides  they  lived  in  different  periods  of  time, 
and  in  countries  remote  the  orue  from  the  other.  How  then  came 
the  world  by  a  collection  of  those  predictions,  put  in  hexameters? 
In  what  age  did  it  appear?  Who  was  its  author?  These  are  facts 
which  antiquity  has  not  transmitted  to  us.  All  that  we  know  is, 
that  a  Woman  came  to  Tarqoin  the  proud,  offered  him  a  collec- 
tion of  those  verses,  in  nine  books,  and  that  she  demanded  for 
them  three  hundred  pieces  of  gold;  that  when  the  prince  would 
not  give  that  sum,  she  threw  three  of  them  into  the  fire,  and  ex- 
acted the  same  sum  for  the  remaining  six;  which  being  refused 
her,  she  burnt  three  more  of  them,  and  still  persisted  in  asking 
the  three  hundred  pieces,  for  those  that  were  left;  at  length,  the 
king  fearing  that  she  would  burn  the  other  three,  gave  her  the 
sum  she  demanded. 

=======        This  story  has  all  the  air  of  romance;  it  is 

and      how     they 

were  destroyed.      attested,  however,  by  a  great  many  authors,  and 

i  perhaps  the  falsehood  of  it  lies  only  in  the  cir- 

cumstances: for  it  is  certain  that  the  Romans  had  in  their  pos- 
session a  collection  of  the  Sibylline  -verses,  and  that  they  preser- 
ved it  from  the  reign  of  Tarquin,  to  the  time  of  Sylla;  when  it 
perished  in  the  burning  of  the  Capitol,  where  it  had  been  depo- 
sited: And  therefore,  that  the  reader  may  be  able  to  judge  of  this 
fact,  I  shall  put  it  in  a  true  light.  LACTANTIUS,  who  relates  it 
in  the  narrative  which  we  have  given,  says  it  was  the  Sibyl  of 
Cunue  who  presented  this  collection  to  Tarquin,  and  he  has  been 
followed  by  PLINY,  SOLINUS,  and  ISIDORUS.  Perhaps  LACTAN- 
TIUS had  found  it  in  VAHUO'S  books  of  divine  things,  whence  he 
had  taken  his  account  of  the  Sibyls;  but  other  authors  barely 
affirm,  that  a  woman  offered  those  books  to  Tarquin,  without  say- 
ing it  was  the  Sibyl  herself.  SEUVIUS,  who  agrees  to  this  fact, 
and  appears  to  have  examined  it,  says,  it  is  not  credible  that  the 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY. 

SEC.  I.  OF    OKACLES. 

Sibyl  of  Cumx,  with  all  the  length  of  years  they  have  given  her, 
having  lived  in  the  time  of  ^Eneas  who  consulted  her,  was  also 
alive  in  the  time  of  Tarquin;  that  is  five  or  six  hundred  years 
after. — Be  that  as  it  will,  the  Romans  carefully  kept  this  collec- 
tion, from  the  time  of  Tarquin,  to  the  burning  of  the  Capitol; 
when  it  was  consumed  with  that  edifice.  In  this  long  period  of 
time,  it  was  only  consulted  by  the  Priests;  as  we  learn  from  So- 

LINUS. 

=====          After  this  accident,  the   Romans,  to   repair 

The  Romans  re-  .  .....„„ 

pair  their  loss  by  tneir  'oss'  sent'  lis  *  ACITUS  has  it,  into  different 
a.  second  collection.  p]aces;  to  Samos,  to  Troy,  into  Africa,  Sicily, 
and  among  the  colonies  settled  in  Italy,  to  col- 
lect all  the  Sibylline  -verses  that  could  be  found;  and  the  deputies 
brought  back  a  great  quantity  of  them.  As  no  doubt  there  were 
many  of  them  dubious,  Priests  were  commissioned  to  muke  a  ju- 
dicious choice  of  them.  Fenestella,in  LACTANTIUS,  saysonly,  that 
the  Senate  after  the  Capitol  was  .rebuilt,  sent  to  Erythraa,  P.  Ga- 
binius,  M.  Octacilius,  and  L.  Valerius,  to  search  for  the  verses 
of  the  Sibyl  of  that  name,  and  that  they  had  found  in  the  hands  of 
private  persons,  about  an  hundred  of  them,  which  they  brought  to 
Rome. — Thus  was  the  second  collection  of  Sibylline  -verses  made 
up;  but  I  don't  believe  they  had  equal  faith  in  them  as  in  the  for- 
mer. They  had  been  in  the  possession  it  seems,  of  private  per- 
sons, who  added  or  retrenched  what  they  had  a  mind  There 
were  none,  according  to  LACTANTIUS,  but  the  verses  of  the  Cu- 
mtean  Sibyl,  that  were  carefully  kept  by  the  Romans:  and  these 
none  had  access  to  see.  The  Quindecim-uiri  were  the  only  per- 
sons who  had  permission  to  inspect  and  consult  them.  As  to 
those  of  the  other  Sibyls,  they  were  in  every  body's  hands:  the 
consequence. of  this  was,  that  upon  every  event,  predictions  were 
propagated  in  Rome  and  through  all  Italy;  and  this  abuse  went  so 
far,  that  Tiberius  forbid  the  keeping  of  those  private  collections, 
and  ordered  that  thev,  in  whose  hands  thev  were,  should  deliver 


236  SUPERSTITIONS  OF    1DOLAT11V.  CHAP.  III. 

OF  ORACLES.  SEC.  I. 

them  up  to  the  Pretor,  —  These  books  were  written  upon  a  sort 
of  linen  that  they  might  last  the  longer. 

=======         There  was  a  College,  first  of  two,  then  of  ten, 

To  whose  care          •     «•  r  _*•  r 

it  was  entrusted,     an^  afterwards  ot  fifteen  persons,  founded  to  be 

andonwhatocca-     t|ie   guardians  of    this    collection,    whom    thev 

sions  consulted. 

===s============s    called  the  Quimdccim-viri  of  the  Sibyls:  to  them 

this  depositum  was  committed;  by  them  it  was  consulted;  and  so 
great  was  the  faith  that  was  put  in  the  predictions  it  contained, 
that  whenever  they  were  to  enter  upon  a  war;  whenever  a  plague 
or  famine  or  other  calamity  infested  either  city  or  country,  hither 
they  were  sure  to  have  recourse.  It  was,  as  we  have  said,  a  kind 
of  standing  Oracle,  as  often  consulted  by  the  Romans,  as  that  of 
Delphos  was  by  the  Greeks  and  other  nations.  We  learn  more 
particularly  from  DIONYSIUS  of  Halicarnassus,  on  what  occasion 
they  had  recourse  to  the  Sibylline  books.  "  The  senate,  says  he, 
orders  them  to  be  consulted,  upon  the  rise  of  any  sedition;  upon 
the  defeat  of  the  army;  or  when  some  prodigies  are  observed, 
which  presage  a  great  calamity,  for  there  have  been  many  such." 
As  to  this  last  article,  it  is  confirmed  by  VARRO;  and  the  Roman 
history  furnishes  us  with  several  examples,  which  prove  that  they 
consulted  them  upon  the  like  occasions. 

..-  We  know  not  what  was  the  fate  of  this  collec- 

*  tion  of  SibVlline  vtrseaj  for  as  to  that  which  we 


not    to   be    con-     have  at  present,  consisting  of  Eight  Books,  upon 

founded    with   a        ....-, 

Third,   the   pro-     which  UALLjEus  has  made  a  learned   commen- 

framl-  °*  ^  tal'y'  thouSh  lt  may  P°ssibly  contain  some  of  the 
•  ancient  predictions,  yet  all  the  critics  look  upon 
it  as  a  very  dubious  composition,  and  likely  to  have  been  the  pro- 
duct of  the  pious  fraud  of  some  more  zealous  than  judicious 
Christian,  who  thought,  by  compiling  it,  to  strengthen  the  au- 
thority of  the  Christian  religion,  and  enable  its  defenders  to  com- 
bat paganism  with  greater  advantage:  as  if  truth  stood  in  need  of 
forgery  and  lies,  .to  effect  its  triumph  over  error.  What  puts  the 


CHAP.  HI.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  237 

SEC.  I.  OF    ORACLES. 

matter  quite  out  of  doubt,  is  that  we  find  in  this  indigested  col- 
lection, predictions  relating  to  the  mysteries  of  Christianity, 
clearer  than  they  are  in  ISAIAH  and  the  other  prophets.  There 
the  very  name  of  Jesus  Christ  and  that  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  oc- 
cur in  every  page.  It  speaks  of  the  mysteries  of  redemption,  of 
our  Saviour's  miracles,  his  passion,  his  death  and  resurrection; 
the  creation  of  the  world,  the  terrestrial  paradise,  the  longevity 
of  the  Patriarchs,  and  the  Deluge.  One  of  the  Sibyls  even  vaunts 
that  she  had  been  in  the  Ark  with  Noah.  There,  mention  is  made 
of  the  invention  of  arts;  and  they  who  are  said  to  have  excelled 
in  them,  are  the  same  with  those  whom  MOSES  mentions;  with  a 
thousand  other  particularities  which  are  evidently  drawn  from  the 
Sacred  Books:  insomuch  that  it  is  amazing  to  find  authors  so 
prepossessed,  as  to  hold  that  whatever  this  collection  contains 
was  composed  by  the  Sibyls.  Would  God  have  revealed  to  Pa- 
gans the  mysteries  of  our  religion,  in  a  clearer  manner  than  he 
had  done  to  his  own  people  by  the  mouth  of  his  prophets? — I 
said,  there  were  probably  in  this  last  collection,  verses  taken  from 
the  two  former;  but  it  is  not  easy  to  distinguish  such  as  were 
borrowed  thence,  from  those  which  the  author  has  spun  out  of 
his  own  brain.  P.  PETIT,  it  is  true,  attempted  to  do  it;  but  to 
me,  it  appears,  that  this  otherwise  ingenious  author  has,  in  this 
part  of  his  work,  shewed  more  credulity  than  sound  criticism. 
He  even  seems  so  prepossessed  in  favour  of  his  Sibyl,  and  allows 
her  such  a  deep  insight  into  futurity,  that  the  firiestess  of  Afiollo^ 
compared  to  her,  was  but  a  learner.  But  what  proves  undeniably 
the  difference  between  this  collection  and  the  ancient  ones  is, 
that  the  Sibylline  verses,  consulted  at  Rome,  breathed  nothing  but 
idolatry,  and  the  worship  of  false  Gods,  and  for  the  most  part 
prescribed  nothing  but  barbarous  sacrifices,  and  human  victims; 
whereas  those  we  have  now  remaining,  inculcates  the  worship  of 
the  true  God,  and  are  mosiiy  calculated  to  lead  men  to  piety. 
2  G 


238  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 


OF    ORACLES. 


'  Before  \ve  close  this  article,  it  will  not  be  amiss 

of  which  the  fol- 

lowing  are     re-  to  insert  some  predictions  of  these  Sibyls;  by 

16  predic"  which  we  may  Judse  what  account  ousht  to  be 


made  of  the  collection  wherein  they  are  contain- 
ed. 1st,  The  Persian  Sibyl,  who  speaks  of  the  Deluge,  calls  her- 
self the  daughter  of  Noah.  But  as  this  Sibyl  is  not  very  sure  of 
what  she  says  of  herself,  or  rather  as  the  impostor,  who  puts  words 
in  her  mouth,  had  forgot  himself  in  this  place,  she  asserts  else- 
where, that  she  had  met  with  the  adventure  of  Lot's  daughters; 
and  again  in  another  place,  she  calls  herself  Christian,  is  if  there 
really  had  been  Christians  in  the  days  of  Noah  or  of  Lot.—-  2d,  She 
whom  they  called  the  Libyan  Sibyl,  speaks  of  the  miraculous 
birth  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  his  miracles  in  such  terms  as  would 
lead  you  to  think  it  was  Isaiah,  or  one  of  the  evangelists  speak- 
ing.— 3d,  The  Sibyl  of  Delfihos  is  equally  plain  upon  our  Saviour's 
conception  and  nativity;  then  forgetting  that  she  speaks  in  the 
character  of  a  true  prophet,  she  resumes  her  Pagan  style,  and 
mentions  her  gallantries  with  dfiollo.  —  4th,  The  Cumaan  Sibyl, 
after  having  spoken  of  the  incarnation,  throws  out  at  random  se- 
veral predictions,  which  the  Romans  did  her  the  honour  to  believe 
had  a  relation  to  their  Empire.  —  5th,  Among  the  predictions  of 
the  Erythraean  Sibyl,  we  find  acrostic  verses,  the  initial  letters  of 
which  form  these  words,  Jesus  Christus,  Dei-Filius,  Salvator.  Of 
her,  ST.  AUGUSTINE  says  to  this  purpose,  "  the  Erythraean  Sibyl 
has  prophesied  of  Jesus  Christ  in  a  very  perspicuous  manner:  I 
had  a  translation  thereof,  but  it  was  a  very  false  one,  when  Fla- 
vianus  the  proconsul,  a  very  knowing  man,  showed  me  the  origi- 
nal Greek,  where  was  this  prediction  in  acrostic  verses."—  6th, 
The  Sibyl  of  Samos,  after  having  spoken  of  GOD,  in  an  equally 
sublime  and  orthodox  manner,  says,  there  is  none  but  HE  who  in 
worthy  to  be  adored.  —  7th,  The  Sibyl  of  Cumx  in  Ionia,  speaks  of 
the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,  of  the  end  of  the  world,  and  of 
the  general  conflagration;  then  she  foretels  the  overthrow  of 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY. 

SEC.  I.  OF    ORACLES. 

Alexander's  empire,  on  whose  ruins  the  power  of  the  Romans 
was  to  be  formed — 8th,  The  Hellesfiontine  Sibyl  prophesies  of 
an  Age  under  Jesus  Christ,  as  happy  as  the  golden  Age,  so  much 
sung  by  the  poets,  and  mentions  the  eclipse  that  was  to  happen  at 
his  death. — 9th,  The  Phrygian  Sibyl  foretels  the  annunciation, 
and  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ,  miraculously  conceived  in  the 
womb  of  a  virgin;  his  death,  his  passion,  his  resurrection;  and,  as 
if  she  had  copied  the  Evangelists,  she  prophesies  that  he  shall 
show  his  hands  and  his  feet  to  his  Apostles.  To  these  predictions, 
so  plain  and  clear,  she  subjoins  others  about  Idolaters,  whom  she 
threatens  with  the  wrath  of  God,  unless  they  abandon  the  wor- 
ship of  Idols.  She  foresees  the  last  judgment,  and  Jesus  Christ 
seated  upon  a  throne,  coming  to  judge  all  mankind.  She  does 
not  even  omit  the  signs  that  are  to  usher  in  the  last  day,  nor  the 
trumpet,  which  shall  be  heard  in  the/bwr  corners  of  the  world. — 
10th,  In  fine,  the  Sibyl  of  Tibur  or  Tivoli,  speaks  also  of  the  birth 
of  Jesus  Christ  at  Bethlehem:  but  if  the  Cumxan  Sibyl  foretold  the 
Romans  only  a  train  of  prosperity,  she  of  Ti-voli,  threatened  Rome 
with  the  most  grievous  calamities;  and  after  having  drawn  an 
ugly  picture  of  that  city,  she  thus  denounces  its  approaching 
ruin: 

Nunc  Deus  xturnus  disperdet  teque  tuosque; 

JVec  super  ulla  tui  in  terra  monumenta  manebunt. 

======      The  author  of  this  collection  had  concealed  his 

Reflections  on  the     f  . 

same.  forgeries  much  better,  if,  instead  of  inserting  so 

— —  many  predictions,  which  God  never  revealed  to 
Pagan  women,  he  had  interspersed  it  with  several  of  their  Ora- 
cles, which  are  to  be  found  in  profane  authors;  but  it  would  seem 
he  had  not  read  them  over  so  carefully  as  CALLOUS,  and  others 
who  have  collected  them.  A  single  example  which  I  am  going 
to  quote  from  PAUSANIAS,  will  let  us  see  how  they  vvere  con- 
ceived, and  at  the  same  time  in  what  manner  they  were  applied 
to  events.  «  Philip,  says  that  author,  having  given  battle  to  Fla- 


240  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  HI. 

OF  ORACLES.  SEC.  I. 

mini  us,  was  totally  routed,  and  obtained  a  peace,  but  upon  con- 
dition, that  he  should  evacuate  all  the  fortresses  which  he  held 
in  Greece;  nay,  this  peace,  though  dear  bought,  was  but  an  empty 
name,  since,  in  effect,  he  became  the  slave  of  the  Romans.  Thus 
was  fulfilled  what  had  been  long  foretold  by  the  Sibyl,  inspired 
no  doubt  from  above,  that  the  Macedonian  empire,  after  having 
arrived  to  the  highest  pitch  of  glory  under  Philip  the  son  of 
Amyntas,  should  sink  and  fall  into  .ruin  under  another  Philip;  for 
the  Oracle  which  she  delivered  was  conceived  in  these  terms: 
1  Ye  Macedonians,  who  value  yourselves  on  being  the  subjects  of 
monarchs  sprung  from  the  ancient  kings  of  Argos,  know,  that 
TWO,  of  the  name  of  Philip,  shall  bring  about  your  greatest  pros- 
perity and  misfortune.  Theirs/  shall  give  lords  to  mighty 
cities  and  nations;  the  second,  vanquished  by  a  people  come  from 
the  East  and  West,  shall  involve  you  in  irrevocable  ruin,  and  sub- 
ject you  to  everlasting  infamy.'  Accordingly,  adds  PAUSANIAS, 
the  Romans,  by  whom  the  Macedonian  empire  was  overthrown, 
were  in  the  west  of  Europe,  and  they  were  assisted  by  Attalus, 
king  of  Mysia,  and  by  the  Mysians,  who  were  the  eastern  peo- 
ple.— It  is  easy  to  judge  from  this,  and  several  other  examples 
which  might  be  brought,  that  most  of  the  predictions  of  the  Si- 
byls, which  are  still  to  be  found  in  ancient  authors,  had  been  made 
after  the  event.  The  Sibyls  had  likewise  foretold  several  other 
overthrows  of  empires,  earthquakes,  and  other  calamities,  which 
the  Pagans  believed  to  have  happened  conformably  to  their  pre- 
dictions, as  has  been  said.  It  would  seem  they  had  made  particu- 
lar mention  of  that  great  earthquake  which  shook  the  island  of 
Rhodes  to  its  very  foundations,  since  the  author  I  have  now  cited, 
says  upon  this  occasion,  that  the  prediction  of  the  Sibyl  was  fully 
accomplished. 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  241 

SEC.  I.  OF  ORACLES. 

=====         We  are  then  to  distinguish  three  collections  of 
collections  of  the     Sibylline  verses;  for  I  wave  those  that  some  pri- 

Sibylline  Verses,     vate  persons  might  have.  The  first  is  that  which 
in  a  manner  dis- 
tinguished, was  presented  to  Tarquiuius,  which  contained 

:T~  contained  only  three  books.  The  second  is  that 
which  was  compiled  after  the  burning  of  the  Capitol,  consist- 
ing of  several  shreds,  which  the  deputies  we  have  mentioned 
had  brought  back  from  their  travels;  how  many  books  it  contain- 
ed is  what  we  don't  know.  The  third,  in  fine,  is  what  we  have 
in  eight  books,  wherein  there  is  no  doubt,  but  the  author  has  in- 
serted several  predictions  of  the  second,  whether  he  took  them 
from  a  copy,  or  picked  up  such  of  them  as  were  become  public; 
but  he  has  added  a  vast  number  of  others,  which  certainly  were 
not  the  composition  of  those  Profthetesses. —  If  we  credit  SER- 
vius,  the  ancient  collection  contained,  in  all,  but  a  hundred  fire- 
dictions.  He  says,  "  there  were  but  a  hundred  responses,  or  a 
hundred  predictions  of  the  Sibyls,  neither  more  nor  less:"  but  it 
is  probable,  that  this  learned  commentator  meant  only,  in  this 
place,  the  Sibyl  of  Cumx,  to  whom  the  passage  in  VIRGIL  re- 
lates. LACTANTIUS,  who  allowed  ten  Sibyls,  as  also  doesVARRo, 
attributes  to  each  of  them  a  book  of  predictions,  though  there  is 
no  way  to  distinguish  to  which  of  them  each  of  these  books  be- 
longed, except  that  of  the  Erythraean  Sibyl,  who  had  put  her 
name  at  the  head  of  the  book  which  contained  hers.  I  know  not, 
whence  LACTANTIUS  had  taken  what  he  here  says;  but  it  is  cer- 
tain the  Romans  had  but  three  of  those  books;  the  avarice  of 
Tarquin  having  occasioned  the  other  six  to  be  burned  by  her 
who  presented  them  to  him. 

=====        I  must  not  omit  that  the  veneration  for  the 
lection  Ts°burnt,"    s^yil'ne   verses  lusted  a  good   while  under  the 

and  their  venera-     reign   of  the  emperors;  but    a  part  of  the  se- 
tion  terminated. 

-     nate  having  embraced  Christianity,  in  the  time 

of  Theodosius  the  Great,  that  superstitious  veneration   began 


242  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 


OF    ORACLES. 


,,. 


to  be  laid  aside;  and  at  last  Stinco.  under  the  reign  of  Hono- 
rius,  caused  them  to  be  burned. — So  much  for  the  Oracles  of 
these  celebrated  Virgins,  whose  predictions  were  in  vogue  for  so 
many  ages  among  the  Pagans. 

8th,   Various  ways  of  delivering  Oracles;  with  several 
remarkable  Responses, 

•  Before  we  finish  what  belongs  to  Oracles,  we 

Modes  of    de-  -  ..          ... 

liverhi£  Oracles  niust  touch  upon  two  heads  more  Hilly,  which 
afore  mentioned.  as  yet  we  have  only  hinted  at  occasionally.  The 
""  frst,  concerns  the  different  modes  in  which  the 
Oracles  were  delivered.  The  second^  relates  to  the  more  remark- 
able Responses  handed  down  to  us  by  antiquity. —  We  have  seen 
in  what  manner  several  Oracles  were  given:  we  have  seen,  that, 
at  the  Oracle  of  Delphos,  they  interpreted  and  put  in  verse  what 
the  priestess  pronounced  in  the  time  of  her/im/;  that,  at  the 
Oracle  of  Hammon,  it  was  the  priestess  who  pronounced  the  re- 
sponse of  their  God;  that,  at  the  Oracle  of  Dodona,  the  response 
was  given  from  the  hollow  of  an  Oak;  that,  at  the  Cave  of  Tro- 
phonius,  the  Oracle  was  gathered  from  what  the  suppliant  said 
before  he  recovered  his  senses;  ttot,  at  the  Oracle  of  Memphis, 
they  drew  a  good  or  bad  omen,  according  as  the  Ox  d/iia  re- 
ceived or  rejected  what  was  presented  to  him;  and  that  it  was 
like  the  latter,  with  the  Fishes  of  the  fountain  Limyra. 

We  must  now  add,  that  the  responses  of  the 

God  was  often  Siven  from  the  6ottom  °f  '«'*  Sla~ 
cles,  viz.— First,    tue;  whether  it  was  the  Devil  delivered  his  Ora- 
from  the  hollow 
of  the  Statue.          cles  there;   or  the   Priests,   who  had   hollowed 

== =^=^^=  those  statues  and  found  a  way  to  convey  them- 
selves thither,  by  some  subterranean  passage;  for  to  repeat  it,  the 
suppliants  were  not  allowed  to  enter  the  sanctuaries  where,the 
Oracles  were  given,  far  less  to  appear  too  curious  in  that  point. 
Accordingly  they  took  care,  that  neither  the  Epicureans  nor 
Christians  should  come  near  them,  and  the  reason  is  very  obvious. 


CHAP.  in.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  243 


OF    ORACLES. 


•  In  several  places  the  Oracles  were  given  by 

ters'unde'r  a^seal"    letters  under  a  seal;  as  in  that  of  Mofisus>  and  at 
•i     Mallos  in  Cilicia.      He  who  came  to   consult 
these  Oracles,  was  obliged  to  give  his  letter  into  the  priest's 
hands,  or  to  leave  it  upon  the  altar,  and  to  lie  in  the  temple: 
and  it  was  in  time  of  his  sleep,  that  he  received  the  answer  to  his 
letter;  whether  it  was  that  the  priests  had  the  secret  of  opening 
these  letters,  as  Luc  IAN  assures  us  of  his  false  prophet  Alexan- 
der, who  had  founded  his  Oracle  in  Pontus;  or  whether  there  was 
something  supernatural  in  the  case,  I  shall  not  determine. 
======    '    The  manner  of  delivering  the  Oracle  at  Cla- 

names  and'num^    ros    ^acl    somewhat    still    more    extraordinary, 

ber  only  of  the    since  no  more  was  required  but  that  the  person 
suppliants        re- 
quired, should  communicate  his  name  to  the  priest  of 

•5=== =  that  God.  TACITUS,  is  my  author:  "  GERMANI- 
cus,  says  he,  went  to  consult  the  Oracle  of  Claros.  The  res- 
ponses of  that  God  are  not  delivered  by  a  woman,  as  at  Delfihos; 
but  by  a  man  chosen  out  of  a  particular  family,  and  who  is  gene- 
rally of  Miletus.  All  he  requires  is  to  be  told  the  number  and  the 
names  of  the  suppliants.  Then  he  retires  into  a  grotto,  and  having 
taken  water  from  a  secret  spring,  he  gives  a  response  in  -verse, 
suitable  to  what  every  one  has  been  thinking  upon;  though,  for 
the  most  part,  he  is  extremely  ignorant!" 

======         Among  the  Oracles  which  were  delivered  in 

Fourth,     the          ,  ,. 

response  is  com-    a  dreami  there   were  some  for  which  prepara- 
municated   by   a    tions  were  necessary  by  fastings,  as  that  in  Am- 
========   Jihiarau8\\\  Attica,  and  some  others,  as  PHILOS- 

TRATUS  informs  us,  where  the  suppliants  were  obliged  to  sleep 
upon  the  skins  of  the  victims! 

•  •••  -•         One  of  the  most  singular  Oracles  was  that  of 

Fifth,    by    the      , .  .  .     .         .  .   .   _, 

first  words  heard    Mer^ury->  m  Achaia,  which  PAUSANIAS  treats  of. 

after  interrogate    After  a  great  many  ceremonies,  which  we  need 

ing  the  statue  of 

the  God.  not  here  enumerate,  they  whispered  in  the  ear 

of  the  God,  and  asked  him,  what  they  were  de- 


244  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    ORACLES.  SEC.    I. 

sirous  to  know;  then  they  stopped  their  ears  with  their  hands, 
went  out  of  the  temple,  and  the  first  words  they  heard  upon  their 
coming  out,  was  taken  for  the  response  of  the  God. 

Oracles  were  frequently  given  by  lot;  and  this 
lar        responses    *s  w'iat  we  roust  explain.     The  lots  were  a  kind 

were  given  by  of  dice,  on  which  were  eneraven  certain  charac- 
lots. 

Ti    ters  or  words,  whose  explanation  they  were  to 

look  for  in  the  tables  made  for  the  purpose.  The  way  of  using 
those  dice  for  knowing  futurity  was  different,  according  to  the 
places  where  they  were  used.  In  some  temples,  the  person  threw 
them  himself;  in  others,  they  were  dropped  from  a  box;  whence 
came  the  proverbial  expression,  the  tot  is  fallen.  This  playing 
with  dice  was  always  preceded  by  sacrifices,  and  other  customary 
ceremonies. — They  liad  recourse  to  these  lots  in  several  Oracles, 
even  at  Dodona,  as  appears  in  the  case  of  the  Lacedemonians, 
when  they  came  thither  for  a  consultation,  as  we  have  it  from 
CICERO;  but  the  most  famous  lots  were  at  Antium  and  Prxneste^ 
two  towns  in  Italy.  At  Prxncste,  it  was  the  Goddess  of  fortunes  and 
at  Antium,  the  Goddesses  of  fortune,  that  is,  her  Divinity  at  the 
latter  was  represei.ted  by  several  statues.  The  statues  at  Antium 
had  this  si:  gularity,  that  they  moved  themselves,  according  to 
MACROBIUS'S  testimony;  and  their  various  movements  served 
either  for  the  response,  or  signified  whether  the  lots  could  be  con- 
sulted. From  a  passage  in  CICERO,  where  he  says,  the  lots  of 
Prteneste  were  consulted  by  consent  of  Fortune,  it  would  seem, 
that  the  Fortune  which  was  in  that  city  was  a  sort  of  automaton,  like 
those  at  Antium,  which  gave  some  sign  with  iis  head,  much  like 
that  of  Jufiittr  Hammon;  who,  as  has  been  said,  thus  signified  to 
the  priests  who  carried  him  in  procession,  what  rout  they  were  to 
take.  An  event  which  SUETONIUS  relates,  undoubtedly  raised  the 
lots  of  Prteneste  to  great  reputation,  (contrary  to  ihe  intention  of 
Tiberius,  who  was  going  to  destroy  them)  since  he  tells  us,  that 
they  were  not  to  be  found  in  a  coffer  securely  sealed,  when  the 


CHAP.  HI.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP   IDOLATRY.  245 

SEC.  I.  OF   ORACLES. 

the  coffer  \vas  opened  at  Rome,  but  when  brought  back  to  Pr<e- 
neste  they  were  again  found. — In  Greece  and  Italy,  they  fre- 
quently drew  lots  from  some  celebrated  poets,  as  HOMER  and 
EUKIPIDES;  and  what  presented  itself  upon  ofiening  the  book,  was 
the  decree  of  Heaven:  of  this,  history  furnishes  a  thousand  ex- 
amples. Nothing  was  more  common  than  the  Sortes  Virgilia- 
nte,  or  lots  which  were  drawn  from  Virgil's  poems.  LAMPRIDIUS 
informs  us,  that  Alexander  Severus,  when  yet  a  private  man,  and 
at  a  time  when  the  emperor  Heliogabalus  bore  no  good  will  to 
him,  received  by  way  of  response  in  the  temple  of  Praneste,  that 
passage  in  VIRGIL;  si  qua  fata  asfiera  rumfias,  tu  Marcellus  eris — 
if  thou  canst  by  any  means  surmount  severe  destiny,  thou  shall  be 
Marcellus, — In  the  eastern  countries9  arrows  served  for  lots;  and 
these  the  Turks  and  Arabians  use  at  this  day,  in  the  same  way  as 
the  ancients  did.  We  learn  from  the  prophet  EZKKIEL,  that 
Nebuchadnezzar,  coming  from  Babylon  with  a  great  army,  stop- 
ped in  a  cross-way,  to  know  by  means  of  the  arrows,  which  he 
mingled,  miscuit  sagittas,  if  he  should  make  war  upon  Egypt,  or 
against  the  Jews;  and  the  prophet  adds,  that  the  lot  fell  upon  Je- 
rusalem. In  fine,  lots  were  even  introduced  into  Christianity,  and 
were  taken  from  the  sacred  books,  where  the  first  words  that 
threw  up,  decided  what  they  wanted  to  know. 

The  ordinary  ambiguity  of  the  Oracles,  and 

their  double  mcani"Si  could  not  but  be  a  great 
cal phrases.  support  to  them;  since,  by  interpreting  them  in 

a  certain  sense,  which  they  could  bear,  the  Ora- 
cles were  sure  to  be  fulfilled.  Thus  the  response  given  to  Crce- 
sus,  by  the  priestess  of  Del/i/ios,  must,  in  all  events,  have  appear- 
ed a  true  prediction.  Croesus,  said  the  priestess,  in  passing  the 
Halys,  shall  overthrow  a  great  empire:  thus,  if  that  Lydian  mon- 
arch had  conquered  Cyrus,  he  had  overthrown  the  Assyrian  em- 
pire; if  he  himself  was  routed,  he  overturned  his  own — That 
delivered  to  Pyrrhus,  which  is  comprised  in  this  Latin  verse, 
2  H 


246  SUPERSTITIONS  OF    IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  IfL 

OF    ORACLES.  SEC.  I. 

Credo  equidem  JEacidaa  Roininos  -vincere  fiosse,  had  the  same  ad- 
vantage, for,  according  to  the  rules  of  syntax,  either  of  the  two 
accusatives  may  be  governed  by  the  verb,  and  the  verse  be  ex- 
plained, either  by  saying  the  Romans  shall  conquer  the  JEacida,  of 
whom  Pyrrhus  was  descended,  or  these  shall  conquer  the  Romans. 
When  Alexander  fell  sick  at  Babylon,  some  of  his  courtiers  wh 
happened  to  be  in  Egypt,  or  who  went  thither  on  purpose,  passed 
the  night  in  the  temple  of  Seraflis,  to  inquire  if  it  would  not  be 
proper  to  bring  Alexander  to  be  cured  by  him.  The  God  an- 
swered, it  was  better  that  Alexander  should  remain  where  he  was. 
This  in  all  events  was  a  very  prudent  and  safe  answer.  If  the  king 
recovered  his  health,  what  glory  must  Serapis  have  gained  by 
saving  him  the  fatigue  of  the  journey!  If  he  died,  it  was  but  say- 
ing he  died  in  a  favourable  juncture  after  so  many  conquests; 
which,  had  he  lived,  he  could  neither  have  enlarged  nor  preser- 
ved: and  this  is  actually  the  construction  they  put  upon  the  re- 
sponse. But  had  Alexander  been  advised  to  undertake  the  jour- 
ney, and  had  died  in  the  temple,  or  by  the  way,  nothing  could 
have  been  said  in  favour  of  Serapis. — When  Trajan  had  formed 
the  design  of  his  expedition  against  the  Parthians,  he  was  advi-- 
sed  to  consult  the  Oracle  of  HeKoftolit,  in  which  he  had  no  more 
to  do  but  send  a  note  under  a  seal.  That  prince,  who  had  no 
great  faith  in  Oracles,  sent  thither  a  blank  note;  and  they  returned 
him  another  of  the  same.  By  this  Trajan  was  convinced  of  the 
Divinity  of  the  Oracle.  He  sent  back  a  second  note  to  the  God, 
•wherein  he  inquired,  whether  he  should  return  to  Rome  after 
finishing  the  war  he  had  in  view.  The  God,  as  MACROBIUS  tells 
the  story,  ordered  a  -vine,  which  was  among  the  offerings  of  his 
temple,  to  be  divided  into  many  pieces,  and  brought  to  Trajan. 
The  eve  t  justified  the  Oracle;  for  the  emperor  dying  in  that 
wai ,  his  bones  were  carried  to  Rome,  which  had  been  represent- 
ed by  the  broken  -vine.  As  the  priests  of  that  Oracle  knew  Tra- 
jan's design,  which  was  no  secret,  they  happily  devised  that  re- 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  247 

SEC.  I.  OF    ORACLES, 

sponse;  which,  in  all  events,  was  capable  of  a  favourable  interpre- 
tation, whether  he  routed  and  cut  the  Parthians  in  pieces,  or  if 
his  own  army  met  with  that  fate. — Sometimes  the  responses  of 
the  Oracles  were  nothing  but  a  piece  of  mere  banter}  witness 
that  which  was  given  to  a  man,  who  came 'to  demand  by  what 
means  he  might  grow  rich.  The  God  answered  him,  that  he  had 
no  more  to  do  but  make  himself  master  of  all  that  lay  between 
Cicyon  and  Corinth.  Another,  wanting  a  cure  for  the  gout,  was 
answered  by  the  Oracle,  he  should  drink  nothing  but  cold  water. 
We  shall  conclude  this  SECTION  by  reporting  some  singular  re- 
sfionses  of  Oracles. 

-  But  among  the  responses  of  the  Oracles,  some 

Extraordinary  ,. 

responses,  viz.—    were  °*  a  sinSuJ-ar  nature.     Croesus  not  being 

first,  that  of  the    satisfied  with  the  response  of  the  priestess  of 

priestess  of  Del- 

phos  to  Crasus.      Delfihos,  although  he  had  been  excessively  libe- 

===========    ral  to  it,  as  HERODOTUS  informs  us,  sent,  with  a 

view  to  surprise  the  Oracle,  to  inquire  of  the  priestess,  what  he 
was  doing  at  the  very  time  when  his  deputy  was  consulting  her. 
She  answered,  lie  was  then  boiling  a  lamb  ivith  a  tortoise;  as  he 
really  was.  Croesus,  who  had  contrived  this  odd  ragout,  in  the 
hope  that  the  Oracle  would  never  hit  upon  the  secret,  which  he 
had  communicated  to  no  mortal,  and  which  at  the  same  titnc  was 
in  the  nature  of  the  thing  so  unlikely  to  be  thought  of,  was  amazed 
at  this  response:  it  heightened  his  credulity,  and  new  presents 
•were  sent  to  the  God.  But  this  fact  being  very  singular,  and  con- 
taining other  circumstances;  besides,  I  shall  relate  it  as  it  is  in 
HERODOTUS.  «  Croesus  seeing  the  power  of  the  Persians  grow 
greater  and  greater  every  day,  by  the  valor  of  Cyrus,  thought  it 
high  time  to  be  making  ready  to  bear  it  down.  Before  he  took 
any  steps,  he  sent  to  consult  the  Oracles  of  Greece  and  Africa. 
Accordingly  he  named  deputies  for  Delfihos,  some  for  Dodona, 
others  for  the  Oracle  of  Amfihiaraus,  for  that  of  Trojihonius,  and 
for  that  of  the  Branchidx,  which  was  upon  the  frontiers  of  the 


248  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CHAP:  III. 

OF    ORACLES.  SEC.  I. 

Milesians.  Those  he  despatched  into  Africa  were  to  consult  the 
Oracle  of  Jufriter  Hammon.  His  first  step  was  only  to  sound  the 
Oracles;  and  if  they  gave  a  true  answer,  he  proposed  to  send 
thither  a  second  time,  to  learn  frcm  them  whether  he  should 
carry  on  his  designs  'against  the  Persians.  He  commanded  the 
deputies  to  observe  exactly  what  time  intervened  between  their 
setting  out  from  Sardis,  and  the  day  of  the  consultation;  and  to 
inquire  at  the  several  Oracles,  what  Croesus  was  doing  that  clay. 
What  were  the  answers  of  the  other  Oracles  we  are  not  told;  but 
upon  their  arrival  at  Delfihos^  they  were  not  well  entered  into  the 
temple,  when  the  priestess  told  them  in  heroic  -verse^  '  that  she 
knew  the  immense  expanse  of  the  ocean;  that  she,  like  the  Gods, 
could  number  the  grains  of  sand  on  the  sea-shore;  that  she  un- 
derstood the  language  of  him  who  never  speaks,  nor  was  any 
thing  a  secret  to  her;  that  she  actually  saw  him,  who  was  now  in 
secret,  boiling  in  a  brazen  pot,  with  a  lid  of  the  same  metal,  the 
flesh  of  a  lamb  mixed  with  that  of  a  tortoise.'  When  the  depu- 
ties sent  to  the  other  Oracles  arrived,  Croesus  examined  with 
great  care  their  several  answers,  and  had  no  regard  to  any  of 
them,  except  to  that  of  Amiihiaraus,  (as  to  which  our  author 
gives  us  no  light);  but  so  soon  as  the  deputies  from  Deljihos  ar- 
rived, the  king  was  struck  with  astonishment  upon  hearing  the  re- 
sponse of  the  Oracle,  and  looked  upon  it  as  the  most  infallible 
of  all." 

The  governor  of  Cilicia,  who  had  a  gang  of 


at  of    ^l^urians  about  him,  who   were   still    endea- 

Mopsus,   to    the    youring  to  inspire  him  with  a  contempt  of  the 

governor  of  Cili- 

cia. Oracles,  resolved,  as  PLUTARCH  says  pleasant- 

'  ly,  to  send  a  Spy  to  the  Gods.    He  gave  the  Spy 

a  letter,  well  sealed,  to  carry  to  MaUos>  where  was  the  Oracle  of 
Mofisus.  As  the  deputy  was  lying  in  the  temple,  a  man  remark- 
ably well  made  appeared  to  him,  and  pronounced  the  word  black. 
This  answer  he  bore  to  the  governor,  which  though  it  appeared 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF    IDOLATRY. 

SEC.  I.  OF    ORACLES. 

ridiculous  to  the  Epicureans,  to  whom  he  communicated  it,  yet 
struck  himself  with  astonishment,  and  upon  opening  the  letter, 
he  shewed  them  these  words  which  he  had  there  written;  Shall  I 
sacrifice  to  thee  a  •white  ox  or  a  black? 

.  We  shall  finish  those  examples  with  a  response 

Third,   that  of  ,    _      , 

the   priestess  of    related  by   OTRABO,  which   proved  fatal  to  the 

Dodona    to    the    prjestess  of  Dodona  who  eave  it.     During  the 

Boeotians. 

=====    war  between  the  Thracians  and   Boeotians,  the 

latter  came  to  consult  the  Oracle  of  Dodona.  and  were  answered 
by  the  priestess,  that  they  should  have  happy  success,  if  they  were 
guilty  of  some  impious  action.  The  deputies  of  the  Boeotians,  from 
a  persuasion  that  the  priestess  had  a  mind  to  deceive  them,  to 
favour  the  Pelasgi,  from  whom  she  was  descended,  and  who  were 
in  alliance  with  the  Thracians,  took  and  burnt  her  alive;  alleging 
that  in  whatever  light  that  action  was  considered,  it  should  not  but 
be  justified:  And  indeed,  if  the  priestess  had  an  intention  to  cheat 
them,  she  was  punished  for  her  deceit;  if  she  spoke  sincerely, 
they  had  only  literally  fulfilled  the  Oracle.  These  reasons  how- 
ever, were  not  admitted:  the  deputies  were  seized;  but  not  daring 
to  punish  them  before  they  were  judged,  they  were  brought  before 
the  two  remaining  priestesses;  for,  according  to  STRABO'S  ac- 
count, there  were  at  that  time,  three  belonging  to  that  Oracle. 
The  deputies  having  remonstrated  against  this  proceeding,  were 
allowed  two  men  to  judge  them  with  the  priestesses,  who  were 
clear  for  their  being  condemned;  but  the  two  men  were  more  fa- 
vourable to  them;  whereby,  the  votes  being  equal,  they  were 
absolved. 
======  We  may  here  remark,  that  as  the  priests  turned 


j®    into  verse  what  was  delivered  by  the  priestess  of 
Oracle  of  Apollo.      Drlphos  in  her/wri/,  of  course  their  poetry  was 
often  wretchedly  bad.     The  Epicureans  especi- 
ally, made  it  their  open  jest,  and  s..ic!,  in  raillery,  It  was  surpris- 
ing enough,  that  djiolloy  the  God  of  poetry,  should  be  a  much 


250  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    DIVINATION.  SEC.  II. 

worse  poet  than  HOMER,  whom  he  himself  had  inspired.  The 
priests  were  even  frequently  obliged  to  steal  from  that  famous 
poet,  despairing  to  make  so  good  of  their  own.  No  doubt,  it  was 
the  railleries  of  these  philosophers,  and  more  particularly  those  of 
the  Cynics  and  Peripatetics-,  that  obliged  the  priests  to  lay  aside 
the  practice  of  turning  the  responses  of  the  Pythia  into  verse; 
which,  according  to  PLUTARCH,  was  one  of  the  principal  causes 
of  the  declension  of  the  Oracle  of  Delfihos. — Let  us  now  pass  to 
other  means  that  were  used  for  knowing  the  will  of  the  Gods,  and 
that  futurity  about  which  human  curiosity  has  always  been  most 
keenly  exercised. 


SECTION    SECOND. 
OF  DIV&VJlTIOJY. 

MAN,  always  anxious  about  future  events,  did 
not  content  himself  with  seeking  to  come  at  the 
ject  of  Divination,  knowledge  thereof  by  the  Oracles  aud  predic- 
""™~ """"""""""  lions  of  the  Gods  and  Sibyls;  he  attempted  to 
make  the  discovery  by  a  thousand  other  ways,  and  invented  several 
sorts  of  Divinations,  by  which  he  pretended  to  a  forecast  upon  fu- 
turity by  means  of  his  own  artifice;  for  which  he  even  established 
maxims  and  rules,  as  if  such  frivolous  observations  had  been  capa- 
ble of  being  reduced  to  fixed  and  certain  principles.  Accordingly 
Divination  was  defined,  rerumfuturarum  sctentia,  or  the  knowledge 
of  future  events;  and  it  was  of  several  sorts,  as  shall  be  shewn  as 
we  go  on.  This  science  is  as  ancient  as  Idolatry  itself,  and  made 
a  considerable  part  of  the  Pagan  mythology.  It  was  even  autho- 
rized by  the  laws,  particularly  among  the  Romans. — CICERO 
has  composed  two  books,  equally  curious  and  elegant,  upon  Divi- 
nation, in  which  he,  though  immersed  in  Pagan  darkness,  makes 
a  jest  of  those  pieces  of  superstition,  and  turns  them  into  ridicule. 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF    IDOLATRY.  251 

SEC.  II.  OF    DIVINATION. 

And  in  truth  religion  informs  us  that  futurity  is  not  only  hid  from 
man,  unless  God  pleases  to  reveal  it  to  him;  but  also  that  it  is  a 
criminal  tempting  of  providence,  to  pry  into  it;  and  that  all  the  arts 
employed  for  that  end,  are  as  criminal  as  insignificant.  Or,  would 
it  be  for  our  interest  to  see  into  this  futurity,  which  men  have 
strained  so  hard  to  know?  No,  surely  not;  it  is  with  infinite  wis- 
dom, that  God  has  concealed  it  from  us.  Nothing  is  more  moving 
nor  more  elegant  than  what  CICERO  says  upon  this  occasion.  "In 
what  deep  melancholy  had  Priam  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life, 
had  he  known  the  lamentable  fate  that  awaited  him?  Would  the 
three  consulships,  the  three  triumphs  of  Pompey,  have  made  him 
sensible  of  the  smallest  impression  of  joy,  had  he  been  capable  to 
foresee,  what  we  ourselves  are  even  unable  to  mention  without 
the  deepest  sense  of  sorrow,  that  on  the  day  after  the  loss  of  a  bat- 
tle, and  the  total  defeat  of  his  army,  he  should  be,  slain  in  the  de- 
sarts  of  Egypt?  And  what  would  Caesar  have  thought,  if  he  too 
had  known,  that  in  the  midst  of  that  very  senate,  which  he  had 
filled  with  his  friends  and  creatures,  near  the  statue  of  Pompey,  in 
sight  of  his  gi.-.rds,he  should  be  stabbed  to  death  by  his  best  friends, 
and  his  body  be  abandoned,  not  a  soul  daring  to  approach  it?  It  is 
therefore  more  for  our  interest  and  real  good,  to  remain  in  our 
present  state  of  ignorance,  than  to  know  the  evils  that  are  to  come 
upon  us."  Certainly  the  ignorance  of  ills,  at  least,  is  better  than 
prescience.  Nor,  even  were  the  foresight  of  good,  our  gift,  would 
there  be  much  we  should  foresee;  and  though  it  should  enable  us 
to.  improve  the  promised  blessing,  the  pleasing  contemplation  of 
the  good  in  store,  would  ever  be  clouded  by  the  apprehension  of 
an  evil  surjirisc. 

Divination  was  practised  more  than  a  hundred 

rior^mTdes1"  of    different  ways.     Tbe  sacred  scri/iture  speaks  of 

Divination.  n-me  sorts  of  Divination:  1st,  By  inspection  of  the 

Planets,  Stars,  and   Clouds;   (of  this   we  shall 

speak  under  the  head  of  Astrology.)    2d,  By  means  of  Auguries. 


252  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    DIVINATION.  SEC.  II. 

3d,  By  Witchcraft.  4th,  By  Charms.  5th,  By  consulting  Sfiirits; 
or,  as  MOSES  says,  those  who  interrogated  Python,  or  a  familiar 
Spirit.  6th,  By  Diviners,  or  Magicians,  whom  the  same  MOSES 
calls  Jedeoni.  7th,  By  Necromancy,  or  by  calling  up  the  dead.  8th, 
By  Rabdomancy,  the  mingling  of  staves  or  rods,  as  may  be  seen 
in  the  prophet  HOSEA:  this  may  include  Bolomancy,  which  was 
performed  by  mingling  arrows;  the  prophet  EZEKIEL  mentions 
this  in  relation  to  Nebuchadnezzar.  In  fine,  the  9th  was  by  inspect- 
ing the  liver,  and  was  termed  Hejiatoscofiia.  These  nine  sorts  of 
Divination  are  very  ancient,  since  most  of  them  were  in  use  in  the 
time  of  MOSES:  there  were  besides,  an  infinity  of  other  sorts  of 
Divination,  which  I  shall  only  name,  that  I  may  come  to  those 
which  were  authorized  by  the  laws,  and  by  religion.  They  gave 
the  name  Ornithomancy  to  that  which  they  drew  from  the  flight 
or  the  chirping  of  birds;  and  Cledonismancy  to  that  which  they 
drew  from  the  voice:  CICERO  remarks  on  this  occasion,  that  the 
Pythagoreans  not  only  observed  the  voice  of  the  Gods,  but  of  the 
men  too.  Divination  by  the  lines  which  appear  in  the  palm  of 
the  hand,  was  denominated  Chiromancy;  and  this  sort  of  Di- 
\ination  has  been  most  in  vogue,  and  of  longest  continuance. 
That  which  was  practised  by  means  of  keys  was  named  Ctidoman- 
cy;  by  a  sieve,  Coscinomancy ;  by  meal,  Alfihitomancy;  by  means  of 
certain  stones,  Lithomancy;  by  one  or  more  rings,  Dactyliomancy; 
by  conjuring  up  the  dead,  Psychomancy,  or  Sciomancy;  by  the 
flame  of  a  lamp,  Lychomancy;  when  waxen  figures  were  made  use 
of  it  was  denominated  Ceromancy;  if  it  was  performed  with  an 
ax  or  hatchet,  Axinomancy;  and  when  they  had  recourse  to  num- 
bers, Arithmomancy .  We  meet  with  some  other  kinds  of  Divin- 
ation in  CICERO'S  books;  in  the  fourth  book  of  wisdom,  by  CAR- 
DON;  in  ROBERT  FLUDD,  and  elsewhere:  but  possibly  we  have 
already  dwelt  too  long  upon  so  vain  and  frivolous  a  subject,  as 
these  inferior  sorts  of  Divination;  and  as  most  of  them  made  a 
part  of  the  science,  or  higher  order  of  Divinations,  of  the  Augurs^ 


CHAR  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OK  IDOLATRY.  253 

SEC.  II.  OF    DIVINATION. 

Ausjiices,  and  Arusfiices,  whose  functions  were  authorized  by  the 
laws  of  the  Romans,  and  constituted  a  part  of  their  religion,  we 
shall  see  in  the  subsequent  articles,  what  use  they  made  of  them. 
But  first,  we  will  say  a  few  words  on  four  other  sorts  of  Divina- 
tion, in  which  the  Elements  were  subservient. 

1st)  Divination  of  the  Four  Elements. 

•  The  four  most  general  kinds  of  Divination, 

1st,  The  divi- 
nation of  water,    were  those  in  which  they  had  recourse  to  some 


°"e  °f  the  f°Ur  elements'  Water,  Earth,  Air, 
and  Fire;  whence  these  divinations  derived  their 
names.  —  1st,  As  to  the  first,  they  made  use  either  of  sea  water, 
and  then  it  was  called  Hydromancy;  or  Fountain  Water,  and  it 
was  named  Pigomancy.  This  sort  of  Divination  is  very  ancient, 
since  we  are  told,  it  derives  its  origin  from  the  Persians,  who 
communicated  it  to  the  other  nations,  and  particularly  to  the 
Greeks,  especially  to  PYTHAGORAS,  who,  according  to  VARRO, 
was  very  much  addicted  to  it.  —  The  ceremony  of  Hydromancy 
was  performed  two  ways;  first,  by  filling  a  basin  with  water,  and 
suspending  a  ring  to  a  thread,  which  they  held  with  one  finger, 
while  he  who  performed  the  operation  pronounced  certain  words, 
and  according  as  the  ring  struck  against  the  sides  of  the  basin, 
he  drew  from  it  his  predictions:  second,  by  conjuring  up  spirits 
who  appeared  at  the  bottom  of  the  basin.  It  was  this  kind  which 
Numa  Pompilius  practised.  —  Pegomancy,  or  Divination  by  foun* 
tain-water,  was  performed  by  throwing  lots,  or  a  kind  of  dice. 
They  drew  happy  presages  when  they  went  to  the  bottom;  but 
when  they  remained  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  it  was  a  bad 
omen.  Rous  informs  us,  that  there  were  other  methods  besides 
of  prognosticating  by  means  of  fountain-water;  first,  by  drinking 
the  water  of  certain  fountains,  as  that  of  Castalia  in  Bceotia,  which 
had  the  virtue  of  communicating  that  gift:  second,  by  throwing 
cakes  into  certain  fountains,  as  into  that  of  Ino  in  Laconia;  for  if 
2  I 


254  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  G1IAP.  III. 

OF    DIVINATION.  SEC.   II. 

they  went  to  the  bottom,  it  was  a  good  omen,  but  bad  if  they 
floated  on  the  surface,  as  we  learn  from  PAUSANIAS:  the  same 
observations  were  also  made  by  letters,  which  they  used  to  throw 
into  the  two  lakes  of  the  Palici,  as  shall  be  said  in  the  history  of 
those  Gods.  Third,  when  the  image  of  the  thing  they  wanted 
to  see,  appeared  in  the  water,  as  they  tell  us  it  happened  in  the 
fountain  of  Apollo  Phryxeus,  in  Achaia:./0url/;,  by  throwing  glass 
phials  into  certain  waters,  to  know  the  issue  of  some  disease;  for 
it  is  alleged,  that  upon  taking  them  out,  a  judgment  could  be 
made  whether  it  was  mortal,  or  if  the  patient  would  recover: 
fifth,  by  observing  the  motion  of  three  stones  which  were  thrown 
into  the  water:  for  which  that  author  may  be  consulted. 

—  •   •     •  2d,  Pyromancy  was  performed  by  means  of 

2d,  The  divina-      .  .  .        ,         ,          .          ,  ...  -    , 

tion  of  fire,  called  -fire->   either  by  observing  the  sparkling  of  the 

Pyromancy.  flame,  or  by  the  light  of  a  lamp.     For  this  pur- 

pose at  Athens,  they  had  always  a  lamp  burning 
in  the  temple  of  Minerva  Polios,  constantly  fed  by  Virgins,  who 
regularly  observed  the  motion  of  the  flame;  the  Arusfiices  obser- 
ved it  in  like  manner,  as  we  shall  take  notice  afterwards. — Ano- 
ther ancient  kind  of  Pyromancy,  was  to  fill  bladders  with  wine, 
which  they  threw  into  \hefire;  and  by  observing  in  what  manner 
the  wine  run  out  when  the  bladder  burst,  they  believed  they 
could  presage  future  events.  Also,  by  throwing  pitch  into  the 
fire,  attending  to  the  manner  of  its  burning,  and  taking  particular 
notice  of  the  smoke,  they  pretended  to  Divine.  Several  other 
ways  of  Divining  by  means  of  fire,  were  devised,  but  I  insist  only 
upon  those  which  made  a  part  of  Idolatry. 

.'  3d,  Gcromancy  was  performed  by  employing 

nation'  of  ^arth"  earth->  as  its  name  sufficiently  denotes.  It  con- 
called  Geroman-  sisted  mostly  in  drawing  lines  or  circles,  by 
cy. 

which  they  flattered  themselves,  to  be  able  to 

Divine  whatever  they  were  desirous  to  be  informed  about;  or  in 
observing  the  chinks  and  crannies  which  naturally  break  out  in 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  255 

SEC.  II.  OF    DIVINATION. 

the  surface  of  the  earth,  whence,  said  they,  issued   Divine  exha- 
lations, as  we  have  said  of  the  cave  of  Delphos. 
=======        4th,  Divination  by  means  of  air,  was  also  per- 

natfon  ""X  ^ir,"    formed  in  different  manners,  either  by  observing 
called  Aeroman-    the  flight  »of  birds  and  the  cries  of  certain  ani- 
.  mals,  or  by  examining  from   what   side  thunder 

broke,  or  upon  the  occasional  appearance  of  meteors  and  comets; 
but  of  these  we  shall  speak  in  the  article  of  auguries  and  prodi- 
gies: in  fine,  from  the  inspection  of  the  clouds;  and  it  was  a  wo- 
man named  Anthusa,  who,  in  the  time  of  the  emperor  Leo,  in- 
vented this  sort  of  Divination,  which,  if  we  credit  PHOTIUS,  had 
never  been  thought  of  by  any  body  before  her. 

2rf,    The  Auguria  or  Auspicia* 

•    •  The    Augurium,    to    speak    accurately,   was 

this  sort^DivL  taken  from  the  phenomena  which  appeared  in  the 
nation;— its  anti-  sfoes.  the  Auspicium  was  taken  from  the  flight 
quity. 

•     and  chirping  of  birds;  and  the   Aruspidum   was 

taken  from  the  inspection  of  the  entrails  of -victims:  but  the  two 
former  seem  to  have  been  confounded  in  their  import,  and  in  that 
light  we  shall  consider  them  as  one;  for  the  Augurs  observed  also 
the  chirping  of  birds,  8cc.,  and  hence  the  very  name  Augur  is 
thought  to  be  derived  from  A-vium  Garritu.  Be  that  as  it  will,  the 
Augur's  art  is  very  ancient,  since  it  was  in  use  in  the  time  of 
MOSES,  who  prohibits  it,  as  well  as  every  sort  of  Divination.  It  is 
thought  to  have  taken  its  rise  among  the  Chaldeans,  whence  the 
Greeks,  and  the  Romans,  came  to  the  knowledge  of  it.  The  last 
had  so  great  an  esteem  and  regard  for  this  science,  that  there 
was  a  law  of  the  twelve  tables,  forbidding  to  disobey  the  Augurs, 
under  pain  of  death. — This  art  was  known  in  Italy  before  the 
time  of  Romulus,  since  that  prince, did  not  set  about  the  building 
of  Rome  till  he  had  taken  the  Auguries.  The  Etrurians  or  Tus- 
cans practised  it  in  the  earliest  times,  and  had  rendered  them- 


256  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  'CHAP.  III. 

OF    DIVINATION.  SEC.  II. 

selves  extreme!;,  expert  in  it  since  the  time  they  had  learned  it 
from  Tages, 

"  The  kings  who  were  Romulus's  successors, 

This    art    was  „.  .  .  .   .      , 

entrusted    to    a    not  *°  su"er  a  science   to  be  lost,  which  they 

College    of  Au-    thought  so  useful,  •  nd  at  the  same  time  not  to 

gurs  educated  m 

Etruria.  render  it  contemptible  by  becoming  too  familiar, 

"  brought  from  Etruria  the  most  skilful  dugurs. 

to  introduce  the  practice  of  it  into  the  religious  ceremonies,  and 
to  teach  it  to  their  citizens;  and  from  that  lime,  they  sent  every 
year  into  Tuscany  some  of  the  youth  of  the  first  families  in  Rome, 
to  study  it  there,  as  I  shall  prove  in  the  sequel. — Romulus  at  first 
made  up  his  College  only  of  three  Augurs,  taken  from  the  three 
Tribes  which  then  comprehended  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  city; 
and  Servius  added  a  fourth.  None  were  qualified  for  being  mem- 
bers of  this  College,  but  such  as  were  of  a  Patrician  family,  and 
the  custom  of  admitting  no  others  into  it,  continued  till  the  year 
of  Rome  454,  under  the  consulship  of  Q.  Apuleius  Pansa,  and  M. 
Valerius  Corvinus,  when  the  tribunes  of  the  .people  insisted  on 
having  Plebeians  raised  to  the  Augural  dignity;  which,  after  some 
struggle  was  granted  to  them,  and^e  were  chosen  from  among 
the  people:  thus  this  College  consisted  of  nine  persons  till  the 
time  of  Sylla,  who  added  two  more  to  it,  as  we  learn  from  LIVY 
and  FLOKUS,  or  Jifteen,  according  to  other  historians,  who  will 
have  it,  that  under  that  dictator  the  College  of  Augurs  was  com- 
posed of  twenty-four  persons.  The  head  of  this  College  was 
named  JMagister  Augurum. — The  number  of  Augurs,  however, 
was  not  limited  to  those  \vho  composed  this  College,  since  be- 
sides those  who  were  in  commission,  the  emperors  had  private 
ones  for  themselves,  who  lived  at  court,  and  attended  them 
wherever  they  went;  and  some  of  the  cities  subject  to  the  Ro- 
mans, had  so  many  of  them,  that  the  College  of  Augurs  at  Lions, 
amounted  to  three  hundred  persons. 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  257 


OF     DIVINATION. 


========        Great  precautions  were  taken  in  the  election 

of  Otbee  Augurs"    of  Augurs;   and  none  were  qualified   for  being 

and  the    impor-    advanced  to  that  dignity,  but  persons  of  a  blame- 

tance     of     their 

office.  less  life,  and  free  from  all  corporal  defects:  And 

"  *  then,  his  character  was  sacred  and  indelible;  nor 
could  the  Augurs  be  depose.'!  on  any  account  whatsoever.  Their 
functions  were  of  very  great  consideration,  both  \\ilh  regard  to  re- 
ligion and  the  state.  The  senate  could  not  assemble  but  in  a  place 
which  they  had  consecrated.  And  if  in  the  time  of  an  Assembly 
either  of  the  senate  or  the  people,  they  observed  any  bad  omen, 
they  had  a  power  to  dissolve  the  meeting;  as  also  had  they  the 
power  to  invalidate  the  election  of  magistrates,  who  had  been 
chosen  under  bad  auspices.  No  important  enterprise  was  entered 
upon,  no  wars,  no  sieges,  without  having  first  consulted  the  Au- 
gurs. If  the  presages  which  they  drew  on  these  occasions  were 
favourable,  or  firosfiera,  as  they  expressed  it,  they  made  answer, 
id  aves  addicunt — the  Birds  are  for  it:  if  they  were  adversa,  infaus- 
ta,  fiiacularia,  or  unfavourable,  their  answer  was,  id  aves  abdicunt — 
the  Birds  are  against  it.  When  the  Omens  offered  of  themselves, 
they  were  called,  oblativa;  but  if  they  appeared  only  when  sought 
after,  they  were  called  im/ietrata.  So  high  a  regard  had  the  Ro- 
mans for  the  Augurs,  and  for  their  declarations,  that  those  who 
contemned  their  persons,  or  made  their  predictions  the  subject  of 
raillery,  were  accounted  impious  and  profane.  Accordingly,  they 
construed  as  a  punishment  from  the  Gods,  the  overthrow  of  Clau- 
dius Pulcher,  who  ordered  the  Sacred  Chickens  to  be  thrown  into 
the  sea,  because  they  had  refused  to  eat  what  was  set  before  them: 
•  if  they  toon' I  eat^  said  he,  they  shall  drink. 

•  The  Auguries  were  taken  after  different  man- 

The  time,  place 
and   manner,    of    ners>  ar>d    always  with    particular    ceremonies. 

Ses"— and  Afrlm  They  were  take"'  1St)  fr°m  the  fliSht  and  chirp- 
what  signs,  viz.—  ing  of  Birds;  2d,  from  the  eating  of  the  Sacred 
Chickens;  3d,  from  the  Meteors,  or  the  Pheno- 


858  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    DIVINATION.  SEC.  II. 

mena  which  appeared  in  the  Heavens;  4th;  from  Prodigies.  Nor 
were  all  days  or  seasons  equally  proper  for  taking  the  Auguries; 
and  therefore  Metellus,  as  PLUTARCH  reports,  forbad  them  to  be 
taken  after  the  month  of  August,  because  the  IJirds  moult  in  that 
season.  As  little  were  they  allowed  to  be  taken  immediately  after 
the  ides  of  each  month,  because  the  moon  then  began  to  -wane; 
neither  were  they  allowed  to  be  taken  after  noon  on  any  clay  what- 
soever. The  place  where  the  Augury  was  to  be  taken,  should  be 
on  an  eminence,  and  therefore,  according  to  SKRVIUS,  it  was  called 
Templum,  Arx,  Auguraculum;  and  the  field  consecrated  to  that 
use,  Ager  effatus.  When  the  weather  was  culm  and  serene,  (for 
the  Augury  was  not  allowed  to  be  taken  in  any  other  state  of  the 
air)  and  when  all  the  other  ceremonies  were  performed,  the  Augur 
clothed  in  his  robe  called  L«na  or  Trabea,  and  holding  in  his  right 
hand  the  augural  staff]  which  resembled  our  bishop's  crosier,  sat 
down  at  the  entry  of  his  tent,  surveyed  all  around,  and  after  hav- 
ing marked  out  the  divisions  of  the  heavens  with  his  stuff,  and 
drawn  one  line  from  east  to  west,  and  another  from  south  to  north, 
he  offered  up  sacrifices,  and  addressed  to  Jupiter  this  prayer;  fa- 
ther Jupiter,  ifthou  art  the  protector  of  Rome,  and  of  the  Roman 
people,  grant  me  a  favourable  Augury.  Or  as  LIVY  has  it,  upon 
occasion  of  the  election  of  Numa  Pompilius:  Jupiter,  if  it  is  thy 
will,  that  this  Numa.  Pompilius,  on  whose  head  I  lay  my  hands,  shall 
be  king  of  Rome,  grant  clear  and  unerring  signs  within  these  bounds 
which  I  have  marked  out.  This  prayer  being  over,  the  priest  turn- 
ed his  eyes  to  the  right  and  left,  and  towards  whatever  place  the 
birds  took  their  flight,  from  thence  to  determine  if  the  Augury 
was  prosperous,  or  unhappy. — As  this  ceremony  constituted  a  part 
of  the  religion  of  the  Romans,  it  was  attended  to  with  high  vene- 
ration, and  during  the  sacrifice  and  prayer,  profound  silence  was 
kept.  If  the  Augury  was  favourable,  or  unfavourable,  he  who  had 
taken  it  came  down  from  his  place,  and  gave  intimation  of  it  to 
the  people  in  this  form,  which  we  have  already  reported;  the  Birds 


CHAP.  HI.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  259 

SEC.   II.  OF  DIVINATION. 

approve  it,  or  disapprove  it.  Though  the  Augury  was  favourable, 
they  sometimes  deferred  the  enterprise  till  the  Gods  confirmed 
it  by  a  new  sign:  this  is  what  we  learn  from  VIRGIL  in  these 
words;  Jupiter  be  propitious  to  me,  and  confirm  the  presages  thou 
hast  now  given  me. 

•  1  st,  But  to  commence  with  t\ie,  flight  of  Birds: 

First,  From  the      ......  ....  . 

flight  of  birds         tneir  different  manner  in  flying  prognosticated 

=^^==  good  or  bad  Omens.  If  it  was  an  unlucky  Omen, 
it  was  called  sinistra,  orfunesta,  or  arcula,  that  is,  such  as  prohi- 
bited any  enterprise;  devia,  to  denote  that  the  same  enterprise 
tvould  be  difficult  to  accomplish;  remora,  when  it  ought  to  be  de- 
layed; inebra,  when  the  Augury  seemed  to  portend  some  obstacle 
in  the  way;  and  in  fine,  altera,  when  a  second  presage  destroyed 
the  first.— The  Birds  whose  flight  and  chirping  they  more  ex- 
actly noticed,  were  the  eagle,  the  -vulture,  the  kite,  the  owl,  the 
raven,  and  the  crow. 

••  2d,  But  the  most  common  way  of  taking  the 

Second,    From  .    .  .    .         ,  _ 

the  feeding- of  the     Augury,  consisted  in  examining  the  manner  of 

sacred  Chickens.  the  sacrecf  Chickens'  taking  the  corn  that  was  of- 
fered them.  They  generally  brought  these  Chick- 
ens from  the  island  of  Eubcea,  and  they  had  them  shut  up  in 
coops.  He  who  had  the  care  of  th.em  was  named  Pullarius,  as 
we  learn  from  CICERO:  so  great  was  the  faith  which  the  Romans 
had  in  the  manner  of  their  feeding,  that  they  undertook  nothing 
of  importance,  without  having  previously  taken  this  sort  of  Au- 
gury. Even  the  general  of  armies  had  them  brought  into  their 
camps,  and  consulted  them  before  they  gave  battle.  The  consul, 
after  notice  given  to  the  person  who  had  the  care  of  those  Chick- 
ens, to  make  the  necessary  preparations  for  taking  the  Auspice, 
threw  down  grains  to  them  himself:  if  they  fell  on  with  greedi- 
ness, the  Omen  was  good;  but  if  they  refused  to  eat,  spurning 
away  the  corn  with  their  feet,  and  scattering  it  here  and  there, 


SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  HI. 

OF    DIVINATION.  SEC.  II. 

it  was  reckoned  so  unlucky,  that  they  desisted  from  the  enter- 
prise for  which  they  consulted  them.* 

•     ••         3d,  Among  the  signs  in  the  heavens  which 
Third,  From  or- 
dinary  signs    in     tne  Augurs  observed,  there  were  some  that  had 

the  air,  as  thun-     no  meaning,  and  these  they  called  Bruta  or  Fa- 
der,     lightning', 
winds.  na;  others  which  declared  a  certain  event,  were 

•—•  termed  Fatidica:  of  these  last,  such  as  appeared 
while  they  were  deliberating  upon  an  affuir,  had  the  name  of 
Consiliaria  Signa:  such  as  did  not  offer  till  the  thing  was  deter- 
mined, were  called  Auctoritativa  or  confirming  signs.  Of  these 
last  again,  there  were  two  kinds;  first,  Postularia,  which  obliged 
them  to  renew  the  sacrifices;  and  second,  Monitoria,  which  warn- 
ed them  of  what  was  to  be  avoided. — Of  all  the  signs  in  the  hea- 
vens, which  were  observed  in  taking  the  Augury,  the  most  un- 
erring were  thunder  and  lightning;  especially  when  it  thundered 
in  serene  weather.  If  the  thunder  and  lightning  came  from  the 
left  hand,  it  was  a  good  omen;  and  a  bad  one  if  it  came  from  the 
right.  DONATUS,  explaining  this,  lets  us  know  that  the  reason 
\vhy  thunder  breaking  on  the  left,  was  reputed  a  favourable  omen; 
namely,  that  all  appearances  on  that  hand  proceeded  from  the 
right  hand  of  the  Gods.  The  thunder  which  passed  from  north  to 
east,  was  reckoned  auspicious — The  winds  were  another  sign  of 
the  heavens  observed  in  Auguries,  because  they  looked  upon  them 
as  the  messengers  of  the  Gods,  who  came  to  signify  their  de- 


*  It  is  a  matter  of  just  surprise  to  find  that  so  grave  and  wise  a  people 
as  the  Romans,  had  for  whole  ages  been  addicted  to  such  a  childish  su- 
perstition, and  made  the  greatest  enterprises  depend  upon  a  Chicken's 
having  or  voanting  an  appetite;  but  the  fact  is  nevertheless  unquestionably 
true.  CICERO  indeed  openly  ridicules  it,  without  appearing  to  have  made 
it  a  serious  affair,  but  the  times  were  changed  when  he  wrote  his  books 
of  divination:  it  may  be  questioned  whether  in  another  age  it  would  have 
been  safe  for  him  to  rally  the  thing  as  he  did. 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF    IDOLATRY.  261 

SEC.  II.  OF    DIVINATION. 

crees  to  men.  LUTATIUS,  the  ancient  commentator  upon  STA- 
TIUS,  explaining  that  place  where  the  poet  says,  that  the  inspec- 
tion of  the  winds  and  of  the  flight  of  birds  caused  the  war  to  be 
deferred,  observes,  that  the  Augurs  drew  their  presages  from  the 
winds:  but  he  lets  us  know  nothing  more  particular  upon  this 
subject.  Thus  we  are  at  a  loss  to  determine  what  winds  were 
favourable,  and  what  were  unlucky. — The  Auguries  or  presages 
drawn  from  Meteors  of  a  preternatural  or  extraordinary  nature 
fall  properly  to  be  treated  among  Prodigies,  as  follows. 

1  4th,  Of  ail  presages,  those  drawn  from  Prodi- 

Prodigies,  \Fiz°—    Sies  vvere  the  worst'  and  those  for  which  the 
.  Pagan  religion  prescribed  the  greatest  ceremo- 

nies. When  the  Prodigy  was  followed  by  any  dismal  event,  they 
were  always  credulous  enough  to  believe,  that  the  one  had  been 
the  cause  of  the  other,  or  at  least  sent  to  prognosticate  the  same. 
TITUS  LIVIUSJ  DIONYSIUS  of  Halicarnassus,  and  other  histo- 
rians, have  taken  care  to  insert  into  their  works,  the  Prodigies 
which  the  annals  they  consulted,  informed  them  to  have  fallen 
out  at  different  times,  and  they  have  marked  the  calamitous 
events  which  followed  upon  them.  PUNY  likewise  reports  a 
great  number  of  them,  as  also  VALERIUS  MAXIMUS;  and  JULIUS 
CBSEQUENS  has  made  up  a  collection  of  them. 

All  the  Prodigies  treated  of  by  the  ancients 
"if    may  be  reduced  to  TWO  CLASSES:— 1st,  In  the 

we    allow    their  Jirst^  we  comprehend  those  miracles  of  Pagan- 
existence. 
ism   which  seem  inexplicable,  unless  we  have 

recourse  to  a  supernatural  cause.  Such,  among  others,  was  the 
story  of  the  Dii  Penates^  or  household  Gods  Jineas  had  brought 
to  Italy,  which  is  thus  related  by  DIONYSIUS  of  Halicarnassus. 
"  While  they  were  employed  in  carrying  on  the  works  of  the 
New  Temple,  there  happened  a  surprising  prodigy.  The  tem- 
ple and  sanctuary  being  put  in  order  to  receive  the  Gods  which 
2  K 


262  SUPERSTITIONS  OF    IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    DIVINATION.  SEC.  II. 

./Eneas  had  brought  from  Troy,  and  which  he  had  placed  at  La- 
vinium,  their  statues  were  transported  into  the  new  temple;  but 
the  next  day  they  were  found  in  the  very  same  place,  and  upon 
the  same  basis  whence  they  had  been  taken  the  evening  before, 
though  the  gates  had  been  shut  during  the  night,  nor  was  there 
any  appearance  of  a  breach  in  the  walls:  they  were  transported  a 
second  time  from  Lavinium  in  form,  after  a  sacrifice  had  been 
offered  up  to  appease  the  offended  Gods;  but  they  were  again 
found  set  down  in  the  same  place  at  Lavinium."— We  may  take 
into  the  same  class  that  of  Ju 'fitter  Terminalis  which  there  was  no 
possibility  of  forcing  from  its  place,  at  the  time  of  building  the 
capitol:  also  the  adventure  of  Accius  JVtevius,  who  cut,  as  they 
say,  a  flint  stone  with  a  razor,  to  convince  the  incredulity  of  a 
king  of  Rome  who  slighted  the  Augurs,  and  the  Tuscan  Divina- 
tion: that  of  the  vestal  JEmilia,  who  drew  water  in  a  sieve:  that  of 
another  -vestal,  who  with  her  girdle  drew  to  shore  a  ship  stranded, 
which  the  strongest  efforts  of  others  were  not  able  to  move:  and 
that  of  another,  who  with  the  skirt  of  her  gown,  kindled  the  sa- 
cred fire  which  her  inadvertency  had  suffered  to  go  out.  To  the 
Prodigies  of  this  kind  we  may  also  join,  the  ajijiarition  of  those 
two  young  knights,  mounted  on  two  white  horses,  who  were  seen 
near  the  lake  Rhegillum,  at  the  time  when  the  dictator  Posthmnius 
was  upon  the  point  of  losing  the  battle,  and  having  fought  for  the 
Romans  till  they  had  gained  the  victory,  disa/i/icarcd  in  a  mo- 
ment, while  the  general,  who  ordered  strict  search  after  them, 
that  he  might  have  rewarded  their  valor,  could  never  hear  ac- 
count of  them  more:  also  the  adventure  which  JULIUS  OBSE- 
QUENS  relates  of  that  statue  of  Juno,  -who  being  interrogated  by 
a  young  man,  if  she  would  go  to  Rome,  -visne  ire  Roman  Juno? 
gave  a  nod  with  her  head,  to  signify  the  Goddess's  consent,  to 
go,  Jiostea  quam  ca/iitc  annuisset;  and  not  only  so,  but  answered, 
that  she  would  go  with  all  her  heart,  to  the  great  astonishment 
of  all  who  were  present  at  this  Prodigy,  se  libenter  ituram^  magna 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP    IDOLATRY.  263 

SEC.  II.  OF    DIVINATION. 

omnium  admiratiorie  resfiondit:  to  which  we  may  add,  that  of  the 
two  oxen  who  spake:  and  in  fine,  that  of  the  shield  which  fell  from 
heaven,  under  the  reign  of  Numa  Pompilius,  as  is  told  by  the 
same  author;  with  several  others  which  appear  to  be  supernatural 
efforts,  if  we  admit  the  facts  to  be  circumstantially  true. 
"  2d,  The  Prodigies  of  the  second  class  were 

ordinary  signs  in  indeed  of  the  kind  of  purely  natural  events;  but 
i-le.ai&  aS  me~  being  less  frequent,  and  appearing  to  be  contra- 
-  — — ;  ry  to  the  ordinary  course  of  nature,  were  as- 
cribed to  a  superior  cause,  through  the  superstition  and  exces- 
sive credulity  of  the  Pagans,  affrighted  with  the  sight  of  these 
effects,  either  rare,  or  quite  unknown.  Such  were  extraordinary 
Meteors,  as  the  Parhelia,  or  the  image  of  the  sun  reflected  on 
the  clouds;  the  appearances  of  fire  and  lights  by  night;  showers 
of  blood,  of  stones,  of  ashes,  or  of  fire;  monstrous  births,  whether 
of  men  or  animals;  and  a  thousand  other  things  purely  natural, 
\vhereofl  shall  give  some  examples,  drawn  from  ancient  authors, 
and  in  particular  from  JULIUS  OBSEQUENS.  1st,  Under  the  reign 
of  Romulus,  says  this  author;  and  at  a  time  when  that  prince 
was  besieging  the  town  of  Fidenae,  there  fell  a  shower  of  bloody 
and  soon  after,  Rome  was  infested  with  the  plague.  2d,  Under 
that  of  Tullus  Hostilius,  there  fell  from  heaven  a  prodigious 
quantity  of  stones,  much  like  a  shower  of  hail.  3d,  Under  the 
consulship  of  P.  Posthumius  Tubero,  and  of  Menenius  Agrippa, 
there  were  seen  in  the  heavens,  during  a  considerable  part  of  the 
night,  burning  arrows.  4th,  The  same  author  makes  frequent 
mention  of  fiery  meteors  appearing  in  the  heavens,  like  armies 
encountering  one  another.  5th,  He  also  mentions  sfiectrcs,  and 
extraordinary  -voices  that  had  been  heard  by  night.  6th,  The  lake 
of  Alba,  according  to  LIVY,  swelled  to  a  considerable  height 
•without  any  preceding  rain,  or  other  visible  cause;  and  that  inci- 
dent so  terrified  the  Romans,  who  were  then  employed  in  the 
siege  of  Veiae>  that  not  having  an  opportunity  to  consult  the 


264  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY. 

OF    DIVINATION.  SEC.  II. 

Tuscans,  with  whom  they  were  then  at  war,  they  were  obliged 
to  send  to  the  Oracle  of  Del/ihos.  7th,  Under  the  consulship  of 
M.  Valerius  Maximus,  and  of  Q.  Manilius  Vilnius,  blood  was 
seen  rising  out  of  the  earth,  while  a  shower  of  milk  fell  from  hea- 
ven. 8th,  Under  that  of  C.  Qviintus  Flaminius,  and  of  P.  Furio,  a 
river  appeared  covered  with  blood. — The  other  Prodigies  report- 
ed by  the  ancients,  are  pretty  much  of  the  same  kind.  To  be 
short,  they  are  either  statues  of  Gods  struck  with  thunder,  or 
overspread  with  blood;  or  they  are  earthquakes,  or  sudden  inun- 
dations: here,  a  child  of  two  months  cries  out,  Triumfih;  there 
the  heavens  are  all  inflamed,  and  nights  illuminated  by  the  Sun, 
or  rather  by  a  globe  of  light  which  resembles  him;  or  else  it  is 
thick  darkness  at  noon-day:  Sometimes  you  have  the  birth  of  a 
monster,  an  infant  for  instance  with  two  heads  and  but  one  hand, 
or  who  has  the  shape  of  some  brute  animal;  a  stone  of  an  enor- 
mous size  falling  from  heaven;  or  a  rainbow  without  a  cloud,  &c. 
•-  It  would  be  no  hard  matter,  if  one  was  so  dis- 

thf  fatte^ckss  of    P°Sed'  l°  aCC°Ullt  for   m°St  °.f  ^  ProdiSies  °f 
Prodigies.  this  second  kind,  from  natural  causes.    All  those 


nocturnal  Jircs,  those  inflamed  sfiears,  those 
armies  appearing  in  the  heavens,  are  what  we  now  call  the  Lumen 
Boreale,  or  northern  lights,  so  common  some  years  past,  and 
perhaps  as  ancient  as  the  world.  Those  extraordinary  inunda- 
tions; whereof  no  visible  cause  could  be  discovered,  might  have 
been  owing  to  some  subterraneous  fermentation  which  raised  the 
waters.  Showers  of  t?ones,  of  ashes,  ov  fire,  were  the  effect  of 
some  Volcano,  like  those  of  mount  JEtr.a  or  Vesuvius.  Those  of 
milk,  a  whitish  water  condensed  by  some  quality  in  the  air:  no- 
body questions  now-a-days,  but  that  those  of  blood,  are  the  stains 
left  upon  stones,  upon  the  earth,  and  upon  leaves  of  trees,  by 
butterflies  and  other  insects,'  which  hatch  in  hot  and  stormy 
weather.  M.  DE  PEYRESC  had  guessed  at  it  more  than  a  century 
agOj  upon  occasion  of  one  of  those  showers;  having  observed)  that 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  265 

SEC.  II.  OF    DIVINATION. 

the  same  stains  were  found  in  covered  places:  and  M.  REAUMUR, 
in  his  memoirs  for  the  history  of  inaects,  has  put  the  matter  be- 
yond doubt. 

.  As  to  the  Prodigies  of  the  first  kind,   I   own 

Remarks  upon      .  ,  .       ,    .  in 

the  former  class     "**]  are  harder  to  be  explained:  but  are  they  all 

of  Prodigies.  wejj  attested?  Were  they  all  seen  and  written 
down  by  persons  of  ability,  at  the  very  time 
when  we  are  told  they  happened?  Are  they  not  mostly  founded 
upon  popular  traditions?  May  they  not,  some  of  them  at  least, 
be  explained  naturally,  especially  if  we  strip  them  of  those  mar- 
vellous circumstances,  with  which  excess  of  credulily  had  clothed 
them?  We  may  say  with  the  author  of  the  dissertation  just 
quoted,  that  those  facts,  and  all  others  that  resembled  them,  are 
to  be  looked  upon  as  fables  invented  by  corrupt  priests,  and  swal- 
lowed down  by  an  ignorant  superstitious  populace.  The  consent 
of  the  people,  says  he,  who  believe  all,  though  they  have  seen 
nothing,  and  who  are  always  the  bubbles  of  stories  of  that  kind, 
can  hardly  be  of  more  weight  to  gain  our  beliefs,  than  the  testi- 
mony of  Pagan  priests,  who,  in  every  age  and  country,  have  had 
too  strong  motives  from  self-interest  for  imposing  those  sorts  of 
miracles,  to  be  vouchers  of  great  credit. 

_  Be  that  as  it  will,  inexpressible  was  the  as- 

The  public  con- 
sternation   occa-     tomshment  and  constei nation  of  the  Pagans,  up- 

on  the  aPParition  of  one  of  those  Prodigies, 
even  of  such  as  might  easily  have  been  account- 
ed to  be  purely  natural  effects.  The  whole  empire  was  in  per- 
plexity upon  such  an  occasion,  it  was  the  only  subject  of  conver- 
sation at  Rome:  the  senate  gave  orders  to  the  Quindecim-viri,  to 
consult  the  books  of  the  Sibyls,  for  it  was  piincipaliy  upon  those 
occasions  they  had  recourse  to  them,  as  I  have  aheady  remarked, 
and  they  prescribed  the  ceremonies  of  expiation,  whereof  we 
shall  presently  speak.  If  in  the  meanwhile,  any  calamity  happen- 
ed to  befal  the  commonwealth;  if  an  enemy  declared  war  against 


266  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CliAl'    111. 

OF    DIVINATION.  SEC.  II. 

it;  if  it  was  overtaken  with  an  epidemical  distemper,  &c.;  all 
was  imputed  to  the  influence  of  the  Prodigy,  which  had  come  to 
denounce  these  calamities. 

3rf,   The  Arusfiicia. 

-  The  Arusfiices  were  equally  regarded  at  Rome 

The  office  and        .  .     .     ~  .        , 

the     institution      vvltn   the  Augurs.     As  their  functions  consisted 

generally,  of  the     jn  examining  the  entrails  of  the  victims,  besides 

Aruspices. 

=====    other  circumstances  attending  a  sacrifice,  they 

were  likewise  named  Extisfiiccs,  a  n  ime  compounded  of  two  Latin 
words,  exta,  entrails,  and  inxpicere,  to  survey,  to  observe,  as  has 
been  said  in  speaking  of  the  sacrifices.  The  Tuscans,  of  all  the 
people  of  Italy,  were  most  masters  of  this  science,  they  having 
been  taught  it  by  Tages;  and  it  was  from  their  country  that  the 
Romans  brought  those  whom  they  employed,  or  at  least  chose 
them  from  among  those  whom  they  had  sent  thither  to  be  in- 
structed in  it;  for  they  sent  every  year  into  Tuscany,  as  the  se- 
nate had  ordained,  six  young  persons,  according  to  CICERO,  or 
ten,  as  VALERIUS  MAXIMUS  has  it,  or  twelve,  as  we  are  assured 
by  other  authors,  to  be  instructed  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Arus- 
Jiices,  and  other  sorts  of  Divination.  And  for  fear  that  this  sort 
of  science  should  be  undervalued,  by  the  quality  of  the  persons 
who  professed  it,  they  chose  these  youths  from  among  the  best 
families  in  Rome.  ANDREW  GLAREANUS  reckons,  that  as  the 
Tuscans  were  divided  into  twelve  nations,  so  we  ought  to  read  in 
VALERIUS  MAXIMUS,  and  in  CICERO'S  second  book  of  Divina- 
tion, twelve  youths,  and  not  ten,  as  the  former  has  it,  nor  six,  as 
it  is  in  the  latter;  being  persuaded  that  the  text  in  both  these  au- 
thors has  been  vitiated  by  some  transcriber.  We  said  Tages  was 
the  first  who  taught  the  Tuscans  the  science  of  the  Arusjiices,  and 
that  other  sort  of  Divination,  which  the  Latins  call  the  Tuscan 
Divination;  we  shall  now  say  wfio  this  Tagcs  was.  CICERO  thus 
relates  his  history,  or  rather  his  fable:  "  A  peasant,  says  he,  la- 
bouring in  a  field,  and  his  plough-share  going  pretty  deep  into  the 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY. 

SEC.  II.  OF    DIVINATION. 

earth,  turned  up  a  clod,  whence  sprung  a  child,  who  taught  him 
as  well  as  the  other  Tuscans,  the  principles  of  Divination."  OVID 
tells  the  same  fable  in  the  15th  book  of  his  Metamorphoses.  As 
the  manner  of  relating  a  fact,  may  considerably  alter  its  circum- 
stances without  destroying  it,  I  am  persuaded,  that  the  fable  I 
have  now  rehearsed  has  a  true  foundation,  and  that  it  imports,  ei- 
ther that  Tages  was  of  an  obscure  birth,  or  that  he  was  a  native  of 
the  country  Autochthon;  for  it  was  that  description  of  people 
whom  they  commonly  gave  out  to  be  sprung  from  the  earth. 
However  this  may  be,  Tages  grew  expert  in  the  science  of  Divi- 
nation, especially  in  that  which  consisted  in  exploring  the  entrails; 
and  he  afterwards  communicated  it  to  the  Tuscans,  who  likewise 
became  great  proficients  therein.  He  had  even  composed  upon 
this  subject  a  treatise,  which  was  kept  with  peculiar  care,  and 
explained  afterwards  by  ANTISTIUS  LABEO,  who  divided  it  into 
fifteen  books.  It  is  not  known  whether  Tages  himself  had  invented 
this  sort  of  Divination,  or  if  he  had  learned  it  from  strangers  who 
travelled  into  Tuscany  in  his  time:  This  much  we  are  assured  of 
by  several  authors,  that  it  was  known  and  practised  in  other  coun- 
tries. Some  have  even  traced  it  up  to  the  earliest  ages,  and 
maintain  that  it  was  in  use  in  Chaldea,  and  in  Egypt;  whence  the 
Greeks  learned  it,  and  for  a  long  time  put  it  in  practice.  Nay} 
there  were  in  Greece  two  families,  the  Jamidg,  and  the  Clytid<z, 
who  were  peculiarly  set  apart  for  the  functions  which  it  prescrib- 
ed. From  Greece  it  passed  into  Etruria,  and  the  Tuscans  ac- 
complished themselves  therein,  so  as  to  become  the  most  know- 
ing of  all  the  JlruspiceS)  as  has  been  already  said.  It  must  have 
been  diffused  through  several  parts  of  Italy,  even  before  the  foun- 
dation of  Rome;  since  Romulus,  in  his  new  city,  founded  a  Col- 
lege of  these  Arusfrices,  choosing  one  from  each  Tribe. 


268  SUPERSTITIONS  OF    IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  HI. 


OF    DIVINATION. 


The  Aruspices  drew  their  presages  from  the 
The  manner  in 
hich  the  Arus-     motion  of  the  victim  which  they  led  to  sacrifice, 

fl'om  ils  entrails'  and  from  the  Jre  in  which  it: 
was  consumed.  If  the  victim  suffered  itself  to 
be  led  without  any  struggle;  if  it  gave  no  extraordinary  cries  when 
it  got  the  deadly  blow;  if  it  did  not  get  loose  from  the  person's 
hands  who  led  it;  all  these  were,§-oorf  Omens:  but  if  the  contrary 
happened,  those  were  bad  Omens.  The  victim  being  struck  down, 
its  abdomen  was  lipped  up,  and  its  entrails  examined,  especially 
the  liver )  the  heart,  the  spleen,  the  kidnies;  and  then  the  tongue. 
Their  colour  was  particularly  noticed,  and  accurate  observation 
made,  whether  they  were  withered,  and  if  every  part  was  as  it  ought 
to  be.  Before  the  victim  wus  opened,  one  of  the  lobes  of  the  liver 
was  allotted  to  those  who  offered  the  sacrifice,  and  the  other  to  the 
enemies  of  the  state.  That  which  was  found  to  be  ruddy,  and  of 
a  fresh  vermilion  colour,  neither  larger  nor  smaller  than  it  ought 
to  be,  not  blemished  nor  withered,  prognosticated  the  greatest 
prosperity  to  those  for  whom  it  was  set  apart;  that  which  was 
lean,  livid,  Sec.,  presaged  the  worst  of  all  Omens.  LUCAN,  who 
has  described  with  a  great  deal  of  elegance  all  the  operations  of 
the  Aruspices,  has  not  omitted  this  circumstance. — Next  to  the 
liver,  the  heart  was  the  part  which  they  observed  with  most  care. 
If  it  palpitated,  was  lean,  and  of  a  less  size  than  ordinary,  all  these 
were  bad  Omens;  but  if  no  heart  was  found  in  the  victim,  they 
drew  from  thence  the  most  unhappy  presages.  We  are  assured, 
that  on  the  day  of  Caesar's  assassination,  this  part  was  wanting  in 
two  victims  which  they  had  offered  up.  The  same  thing  happen- 
ed, say  they,  to  Caius  Murius  in  a  sacrifice  which  he  offered  at  Uti- 
ca  in  Africa,  and  to  the  emperor  Pertinax. — In  like  manner  they 
did  with  the  spleen,  the  gall,  and  the  lungs;  nor  was  the  Augury 
propitious  unless  these  three  parts  had  much  the  same  qualities 
with  those  that  were  requisite  in  the  heart  and  liver.  If  the  en. 
trails  dropped  from  the  hands  of  him  who  examined  them;  if  they 


CHAP.  in.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  •     269 

SEC.  II.  OF    DIVINATION. 

smelt  rank;  in  fine,  if  they  were  livid,  withered,  or  bloated,  the 
Aruspex  foreboded  nothing  from  thence  but  misfortune.  After 
having  scrupulously  examined  the  entrails  of  the  victim,  they 
kindled  the  fire  and  drew  several  Omens  from  its  manner  of 
burning.  If  the  flame  was  clear;  if  it  mounted  up  without  divi- 
ding; if  it  did  not  go  out  till  the.  victim  was  entirely  consumed; 
those  were  infallible  marks  that  the  sacrifice  was  acceptable.  If 
on  the  contrary,  they  had  difficulty  in  kindling  the  fire;  if  the 
flame  divided;  if,  instead  of  fastening  on  the  victim,  it  only  played 
around;  or  if  it  sunk  downward;  all  these  were  bad  presages.— 
Again,  the  Aruspex  drew  his  prognostics  from  the  wine  used  for 
the  libation.  If  it  lost  its  colour  and  flavour,  the  Omen  was  un- 
lucky. This,  according  to  VIRGIL,  is  what  happened  to  Dido: 
\vhen  offering  a  saciifice,  she  perceived  the  wine  was  changed  into 
a  blackish  and  corrupted  blood;  as  also  in  the  case  of  Xerxes,  who, 
according  to  VALERIUS  MAXIMUS,  being  at  supper  the  evening 
before  he  laid  siege  to  Sparta,  saw,  to  his  astonishment,  the  wine 
that  was  served  up  for  his  drink,  turn  three  times  into  blood.— 
Such,  were  the  presages  drawn  by  the  Augurs,  or  Auspices,  and 
Aruspices:  but  as  there  were  several  others,  which  every  private 
man  might  observe,  I  shall  speak  of  them  in  the  following  article. 
4th,  Of  Private  Presages. 

-•- J       Mr.  Simon  reduces  private  Presages  to  seven 

Seven  kinds  of    .  .    ,  ,,  ,         ,.   .  .      .. 

these    Presages      kinds. —  1st,  Casual  ivorus;  which  were  again  di- 

v'Zi — Ft™*}     Ca-    \-ided  into  two  classes;  first,  those  whose  author 

sual  words. 

=====    was  unknown,  which  they  called  Divine  Voices; 

such  was  the  voice  whereby  the  Romans  were  apprised,  without 
knowing  whence  it  proceeded,  of  the  approach  of  the  Gauls,  and 
to  which  they  built  a  temple,  under  the  name  of  Aius  .Loquutius: 
second^  when  it  was  known  who. pronounced  these  articulate 
sounds,  they  were  called  human  Voices.  They  used  this  sort  of 
presage,  either  by  picking  up  the  first  words  they  heard  at  coming 
2  L 


SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    DIVINATION.  SKC.   II. 

out  of  the  house,  or  by  sending  a  slave  into  the  street,  to  repeat 
the  first  words  which  he  heard.  To  this  kind  of  presage,  we  may 
refer  what  was  taken  from  the  words  pronounced  by  children  at 
play,  which  were  interpreted  either  in  a  good  or  bad  sense. 
2d,  The  stortings  of  some  parts  of  tin 


Second,   Start-       ,  •    n       /• 
ings  in   parts  of    cmefly  of  the  eyes,  the  eye-brows,  and  the  heart, 

the  body.  formed  the  second  kind  of  Presages.    The  start- 

ing of  the  right  eye,  and  of  the  eye-brows,  was  a 
happy  Omen;  that  of  the  heart,  or  its  palpitations,  were  a  bad 
Omen,  which  presaged,  according  to  MELAMPUS,  the  treachery 
of  a  friend.  The  numbness  of  the  little  Jinger,  and  the  starting 
of  the  thumb  of  the  left  hand,  portended  nothing  favourable. 

=======         3d,  The  tingling  of  the  ear,  and  some  other 

Third,     Tine;-     .  ... 

ling  of  the  ear        imaginary  sounds,  which  were  sometimes  owing 

11    to  the  state  of  that  organ,  were  likewise  bad 
presages. 

•  4th,  Sneezing  in  the  morning  was  by  no  means 

mga"rtht  SneCZ"    a  g°otl  Omen;  but  sneezing  in   the   afternoon, 

was  reckoned  very  favourable. 

5th,  Accidental  falls,  were  always  bad  Omens; 
tal  falls,  and* the  even  tnose  °f  statues:  thus,  those  of  Nero  being 
like-  found  overturned  on  the  first  day  of  January, 

they  foreboded  from  thence  the  approaching 
death  of  that  prince.  If  at  going  abroad,  a  person  hit  his  foot 
against  the  threshold  of  the  door;  if  by  any  straining,  he  broke 
the  strings  of  his  shoes;  or  if  at  rising  from  his  seat  he  happened 
to  be  held  by  his  robe;  all  these  were  taken  for  bad  Omens. 
:  •  6th,  Accidental  rencounters,  of  certain  persons, 

acddentafmee1"    or  animals,  presaged  either  good  or  bad.  If  they  . 
ings,  of  persons     j^gj  jn  tjie  morning  an  ^Ethiopian,  a  Dwarf,  an 
or  animals. 

•    Eunuch,  or  a  man  deformed,  they  were  sure  to 

return  quickly  home,  and  stir  no  more  abroad  for  that  day.     The 
rencounter  of  a  Serpent,  of  a  Wolf,  a  Fox,  a  Dog)  a  Cat;  the 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.  271 

SEC.  II.  OF  DIVINATION. 

squeak  of  a  Mouse,  &c.,  presaged  nothing  but  bad  luck.  The 
meeting  with  a  Lion,  with  Ants,  or  with  Bees,  were,  on  the  con- 
trary, happy  Omens. 

•  7th,  Again,  there  were  Names  of  a  good  or 

Seventh,  Names     .     , 
were   lucky     or    bad  portent;  and  they  were  very  scrupulous  in 

unlucky.  observing,  that  the  first  soldiers  they  listed,  the 

children  who  served  at  the  sacrifices,  those  who 
performed  the  dedication  of  a  temple,  8cc.,  should  have  lucky 
names;  as  they  had  an  aversion  to  those  which  imported  any  thing 
sad  or  disastrous. 

•  •  Several  other  Presages  might  be  added  to 

Other  Presages     th  j          recitecj:   but  what  could  we  learn 

not  mentioned. 
=====    from  a  longer  detail,  but  that  the  superstition  of 

the  Pagans  knew  no  bounds,  since  there  was  hardly  any  action  in 
life,  especially  among  the  Romans,  for  which  they  had  not  re- 
course to  Presages;  none  wherein  they  believed  themselves  at 
liberty  to  neglect  them?  But  that  superstitious  attention  was 
chiefly  engaged  in  all  the  ceremonies  of  religion,  in  the  public 
acts,  which  for  that  reason,  were  all  ushered  in  with  this  pre- 
amble; Quod  fclix,  faustum,  fortunatumque  sit;  as  in  marriages, 
at  the  births  of  children,  in  travelling,  in  their  repasts,  &c.  But 
it  was  not  enough  to  observe  the  Presages,  it  was  also  necessary 
to  accept  of  them  when  favourable,  thank  the  Gods  for  them,  beg 
of  them  their  accomplishment,  and  even  supplicate  them  to  send 
new  ones  in  confirmation  of  the  first;  and  in  case  they  were  bud, 
pray  that  they  would  divert  their  effect. 

-     •  The  Romans  had  particular  Gods  whom  they 

OmenT  were  \-  invoked,  and  to  whom  they  sacrificed,  when  they 
voided.  wanted  to  have  bad  Omens  diverted,  and  the  ef- 

fect of  them  prevented;  and  these  Gods  were 
named  A-uerrunci,  or  A-verruncani,  from  the  old  Latin  word  aver- 
runcare,  which  signified  to  ward  off,  or  divert.  But  independently 
of  the  aid  of  those  Gods,  they  thought  bad  presages  could  be  re- 


SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  Jli 


dressed  by  many  other  ways;  since,  in  order  to  obviate  the  bad 
effect  of  an  unlucky  expression  or  object, it  sufficed  to  spit  hastily, 
as  it  were  to  th'rovv  out  the  poison  they  had  sucked  in.  They 
were  scrupulously  careful,  when  they  could  not  shun  making  use 
of  unlucky  words,  to  soften  the  terms,  and  keep  as  far  as  possible 
from  conveying  the  shocking  idea  which  they  naturally  raised: 
thus,  instead  of  saying  directly,  a  man  was  dead,  they  said  vixit, 
that  is,  he  has  lived.  At  Athens,  a  prison  was  called  the  house; 
the  common  executioner  was  called  the  public  man;  the  Furies  were 
called  Eumenidesj  or  the  good  natured  Goddessesj  and  so  of  the 
rest. 


SECTION    THIRD. 

OF  MAGIC. 

•• '  ""  '  •'•  ••  AFTER  having  spoken  of  Divination,  and  other 
Magic-^it"  c°i-  means  which  the  Pagans  made  use  of  for  coming 
initial  excesses;  at  t|ie  knowledge  of  future  events,  I  must  needs 
say  somewhat  of  Magic;  which  may  be  defined, 
the  art  of  producing  in  nature,  effects  above  the  poiver  of  man,  by 
the  assistance  of  the  Gods,  upon  uning  certain  words  and  ceremonies. 
Of  all  the  excesses  to  which  a  vain  and  criminal  curiosity  has 
carried  men,  Magic  was  the  greatest,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
most  dangerous.  How  may  we  be  justly  amazed,  on  the  one 
hand,  to  consider  the  uselessness  of  so  frivolous  an  art;  on 
the  other,  the  crimes  in  which  it  has  involved  the  most  civilized 
and  most  knowing  nations  as  well  as  the  more  rude  and  barbarous 
ones!  I  shall  speak  of  this  subject,  only  so  far  as  it  had  a  relation 
to  the  Pagan  Theology,  and  to  the  superstitious  practices  of 
Idolatry. 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  273 


OF    MAGIC, 


1  The  ancients  are  not  agreed  as  to  the  time 

buted^tcf  Zoro"    when,  nor  country  where  Magic  had  its  original. 
aster-  But  what  does  it  avail  to  know,  whether  it  was 

the  Egyptians  or  the  Chaldeans,  or  other  people, 
who  were  inventors  of  an  art,  as  abominable  as  it  is  frivolous? 
What  we  may  aver,  is,  that  it  is  of  very  great  antiquity,  and  per- 
haps as  old  as  Idolatry  itself.  Scripture  informs  us,  that  the 
Egyptians  practised  it  from  the  earliest  ages,  when  it  makes 
mention  of  the  Magicians  whom  Pharaoh  opposed  to  MOSES,  and 
who  imitated,  by  their  enchantments,  almost  all  the  miracles  which 
God  wrought,  by  means  of  that  great  man.  Among  those  Magi- 
dans,  there  were  two  whom  ST.  PAUL  names  Jannes  and  Jam- 
6res,  whom  PLINY  had  heard  of;  but  he  puts  them  and  MOSES, 
their  great  adversary,  in  the  same  rank,  and  takes  them  for  Jews 
likewise.  But  the  ancients  believed  Zoroaster  to  be  the  first  in- 
ventor of  Magic,  who  flourished  many  ages  before. 

*         Magic  is  commonly  distinguished  into  several 

of  Magic,  viz. kinds:  Jirst^  the  Natural,  which  is  nothing  but 

1st,  Natural  Ma-  a  <jeeper  and  more  exact  insight  into  physical 
.  causes,  than  what  the  ignorant  vulgar  possess, 

whose  way  is,  to  take  for  firodigies,  effects,  of  whose  causes  they 
are  ignorant,  and  for  real  predictions,  what  was  foretold  by  the 
natural  philosopher.  We  are  told,  it  was  in  this  sort  of  Magic 
that  Hermes  Trismegistus  of  old,  Zoroaster,  and  some  others  ex- 
celled. The  Indians,  Chaldeans,  Egyptians,  and  Persians,  were 
also  very  much  addicted  to  it;  and  in  this  science,  we  ate  assured 
by  PLATO,  that  the  children  of  the  kings  of  Persia  were  educated. 

'  The  second  kind  of  Magic  is  what  they  call 

2d,    Mathema-      ,.,  ..        ......  .          ...          . 

tical    Magic     or    Mathematical;  which,  joining  certain  subtile  and 

Astrology; its     ingenious  usages,  to  the  pretended  influence  of 

origin  and  propa-  . 

gation;  the  Stars  upon  things  here  below,  pretends  to 

"-  produce  miraculous  effects,  known  by  the  gene- 

ral term  of  Astrology.     The  ancients  are  not  agreed  as  to  the 


274  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  lit. 

OF    MAGIC.  SEC.  III. 

people  who  have  a  just  claim  to  the  invention  of  Astrology.  HE- 
RODOTUS says,  it  took  its  rise  in  Egypt;  and  it  is  agreed,  that 
it  was  cultivated  there  from  the  earliest  periods  of  time;  but 
the  name  of  Chaldaic  Scirnce,  which  it  has  always  had,  proves 
that  it  is  in  Chaldea  we  are  to  search  for  its  original:  accor- 
dingly this  is  the  sentiment  of  CICERO.  "  As  the  Assyrians, 
says  he,  inhabiting  vast  plains,  whence  they  have  a  full  view  of 
the  heavens  on  every  side,  were  the  first  who  observed  the  course 
of  the  stars;  they  too,  were  the  first  who  taught  posterity  the  ef- 
fects which  were  thought  to  be  owing  to  them;  and  of  their  ob- 
servations have  made  a  science,  whereby  they  pretend  to  be  able 
to  foretel  what  is  to  befal  every  one,  and  what  fate  is  ordained 
for  him  from  his  birth."  A  passage  in  the  prophet  ISAIAH  in- 
forms us,  that  this  art  of  prediction  by  means  of  Sfars,  was 
very  ancient  in  Chaldea,  and  particularly  at  Babylon,  the  capital 
thereof:  «  let  now  the  Astrologers,"  says  that  prophet,  making  an 
apostrophe  to  that  idolatrous  city,  "  the  star-gazers^  the  monthly 
prognosticators,  stand  up  and  save  thee  from  those  things  that 
shall  come  upon  thee." — We  see  then,  judicial  Astrology  was 
known  in  Chaldea  in  the  earliest  ages:  this  is  all  we  can  say  for 
certain  about  the  origin  of  this  science.  For  how  little  ground 
should  we  gain  did  we  know  assuredly,  as  Sum  AS  says,  that  Zo- 
roaster and  Ostanes  were  the  inventors  of  it,  since  many  difficul- 
ties would  still  remain  as  .to  the  country  of  these  two  personages, 
and  still  more  as  to  the  time  when  they  lived?  Testimonies  from 
BEROsusand  EUPOLEMUS,  ciied  by  EUSEBIUS,  inform  us  indeed, 
that  Abraham  was  well  versed  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Stars;  and 
was  master  of  what  was  anciently  called,  the  Chaldaic  science; 
but  these  two  authors  have  not  distinguished  Astronomy,  to  which 
that  holy  patriarch  perhaps  applied  himsel  ,  from  judicial  Astro- 
logy: for  it  frequently  happened  that  these  two  sciences  were 
confounded,  though  the  one  is  as  solid  and  useful,  as  the  other  is 
vain  and  frivolous.  From  Chaldea  this  science  passed  into  Egypt, 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  275 

SEC.  III.  OF     MAGIC. 

where  it  was  very  mlich  cultivated,  as  has  been  already  remarked; 
and  from  Egypt  into  Greece:  this  latter  is  the  ordinary  course 
•which  science,  arts,  and  fables  took.     The  Greeks,  vain  and  cu- 
rious as  they  were,  gave  great  application  to  it;  and  we  are  told 
that  CHILO  the  Lacedemonian,  one  of  the  SEVEN  WISE  MEN  of 
Greece,  was  the  first  who  addicted  himself  to  It.     From  Greece 
it  was  propagated  to  the  other  western  countries,  where  it  made 
such  progress,  that  there  never  was  any  science  more  universally 
diffused. 
======         I  am  not  to  insist  upon  its  propagation,  far 

Iess  l'P°n  the  different  rites  which  the  Astrolo- 
gers  used,  to  come  at  the  knowledge  of  futurity 
by  surveying  the  Stars:  nothing  is  so  frivolous  as  the  principles 
they  built  upon.  And  indeed,  what  is  that  position  of  the  heavens 
which  the  Astrologer  takes,  to  ground  his  predictions  upon?  The 
ancient  Astrologers  had  divided  the  Zodiac  into  twelve  portions^ 
and  gave  names  to  the  twelve  constellations,  of  which  it  was  form- 
ed; but  they  might  have  had  other  names,  as  they  actually  had  in 
other  planispheres.  The  Barbaric  sphere,  says  FIRMICUS,  was 
entirety  different  from  that  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans;  and  that 
of  the  Chinese  again  was  different  from  all  the  three.  In  the 
Greek  sphere,  the  planets  bore  the  names  of  several  Divinities; 
the  Arabians,  who  would  have  thought  themselves  guilty  of  Idol- 
atry, had  they  placed  human  figures  in  the  heavens,  put  animals 
or  other  things  in  their  room;  peacocks,  for  example,  in  place  of 
the  twins;  a  sheajf,  instead  of  the  virgin;  a  quiver,  instead  of  Sagit- 
tarius, Sec.:  all  this  was  quite  arbitrary.  How  comes  it  then  that 
the  Astrologers  judged  of  the  temper  and  actions  of  men  from 
the  names  of  those  planets  or  constellations,  under  whose  aspect 
they  were  born?  What  ground  had,  they  for  saying,  that  he  who 
was  born  under  the  sign  of  the  Virgin,  was  chaste?  that  they  at 
Avhose  birth  Venus  had  presided,  were  gallant  and  amorous?  that 
Mercury  inspired  with  wit  and  ingenuity;  Saturn  with  wisdom 


2P6  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    MAGIC.  SEC.  III. 

and  prudence?  that  the  Moon  made  the  good  sailors;  Mars,  the 
warriors?  See.  Had  these  constellations  and  planets  the  smallest 
connexion  with  the  symbols  that  represented  them?  and  how 
came  they  to  have  the  same  connexion  with  other  symbols  in 
countries  where  they  were  differently  represented? — Farther, 
\vho  can  pretend  to  take  the  exact  position  of  the  heavens,  at  the 
moment  of  any  one's  birth?  of  those  heavens  where  the  scenes 
are  continually  shifting,  and  which  are  so  immensely  distant  from 
us?  Rut  why  attempt  to  refute  those  absurdities?  Numbers  of 
others  have  clone  it,  and  to  triumph  on  the  subject  is  so  easy,  that 
there  is  but  liule  honour  in  the  success.  In  short,  is  it  not  evi- 
dent, so  evident  I  mean,  as  to  be  able  to  strike  the  most  opinion- 
alive  and  headstrong  with  conviction,  that  those  bodies  which  roll 
in  spaces  so  remote  from  us,  cannot  so  exactly  direct  their  influ- 
ences, that  is,  the  minute  corpuscles  which  fly  off  from  them,  as 
to  meet  with  nothing  to  divert  them  from  falling  directly  upon 
our  earth,  which  is  but  an  invisible  point  in  respect  to  them, 
where  it  would  take  them  some  time  to  arrive,  even  though  they 
should  move  with  the  velocity  of  light;  upon  a  kingdom,  a  pro- 
vince, a  town,  a  house,  and  in  particular,  upon  a  man,  who  occu- 
pies but  a  small  space  in  that  same  invisible  point  of  earth?  How 
is  it  conceivable,  even  though  these  corpuscles  should  come  into 
the  place  where  the  child  is  born,  that  they  should  be  able  to  de- 
termine all  the  actions  of  the  child's  tiff,  with  which  they  have 
certainly  no  manner  of  connexion;  to  act  upon  his  thoughts,  upon 
his  liberty,  Sec.?  What  wild  extravagance  then  has  emboldened 
men  to  advance,  that  these  influences  acted  so  powerfully  upon 
us,  that  they  determined  all  our  actions,  inclined  us  to  good  or 
evil;  that  they  formed  our  tempers,  our  inclinations,  our  habits? 
How  could  it  be  said  in  good  earnest,  that  the  sign  of  the  Ram 
presided  over  the  head;  the  Bull  over  the  gullet;  the  Twins,  over 
the  breast;  the  Scorjiion,  over  the  entrails;  the  Fishes  over  the 
feet;  that  the  Lion,  gavr  strength;  that  the  different  aspects  of 


CHAP.  IH.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP   IDOLATRY.  277 


these  signs  were  the  causes  of  the  good  or  bad  dispositions  of  our 
bodies?  that  there  was  great  need  of  caution,  for  example,  in 
taking  medicine  under  the  aspect  of  the  bull,  because,  as  this  ani- 
mal chews  his  cud,  the  person  would  -vomit  it  uji?  with  a  thou- 
sand other  extravagances  which  I  would  be  ashamed  to  repeat. 
•  Let  us  now  come  to  a  kind  of  Magic  which 

g-iaand  Goetia)—  constituted  the  princip?!  doctrine  of  the  Pagan 
their  difference.  Theology,  than  which  none  had  more  illustrious 
=^=^==  partisans,  especially  among  the  philosophers  who 
lived  in  the  first  ages  of  Christianity.  As  the  magicians  in  this 
kind  of  Magic,  invoked  two  sorts  of  Divinities,  the  one  benevo- 
lent, and  the  other  malevolent,  this  difference  constitutes  two  sorts 
of  that  Art;  namely  that  which  had  recourse  to  the  beneficent  Ge- 
nii, was  called  Theurgia,  the  other,  which  had  no  other  end  but 
to  do  mischief,  for  which  purpose  it  invoked  only  the  malevo- 
lent Genii,  was  called  Goetia.  The  wisest  of  the  Pagan  world, 
and  their  greatest  philosophers,  despised  the  latter,  as  much  as 
they  esteemed  the  former — Theurgy,  was,  according  to  them,  a 
divine  art,  which  served  only  to  advance  the  mind  of  man  to  high- 
er perfection,  and  render  the  soul  more  pure;  and  they,  who  by 
means  of  this  Magic  had  the  happiness  to  arrive  "at  what  they  call- 
ed Autopsia,  or  Intuition,  a  state  wherein  they  enjoyed  intimate 
intercourse  with  the  Gods,  believed  themselves  invested  with  all 
their  power,  and  were  persuaded  that  nothing  to  them  was  im- 
possible. Towards  this  state  of  perfection  all  those  aspired,  who 
made  profession  of  that  sort  of  Magic;  but  then  it  laid  them  un- 
der severe  regulations.  None  could  be  priest  of  this  order,  but  a 
man  of  unblemished  morals,  and  all  who  joined  with  him  .in  his 
operations,  were  bound  to  strict  purity;  they  were  not  allowed  to 
have  any  commerce  with  women;  to  eat  any  kind  of  animal  food, 
nor  to  defile  themselves  by  the  touch  of  a  dead  body.  The  philo- 
sophers, and  persons  of  the  greatest  virtue,  thought  it  their  ho- 
2  M 


SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 


now  to  be  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  this  sort  of  Magic.  — 
Their  Goetia  was  quite  different:  every  thing  rendered  it  equally 
odious  and  contemptible.  The  professors  of  it  had  correspondence 
with  none  but  the  evil  Genii,  and  employed  their  operations  to  do 
mischief.  The  apparatus  of  their  ceremonies  heightened  the  aver- 
sion which  all  sober  people  had  to  this  Magic.  The  subterraneous 
places  were  chosen  preferably  to  others:  the  darkness  of  the 
night,  the  black  victims  which  they  offered;  the  bones  of  the 
dead  and  the  corpses  with  which  they  were  surrounded  in  the 
caves;  the  infants  whose  throats  they  cut,  to  rake  into  their  en- 
trails for  an  insight  into  futurity;  all  conspired  to  make  it  equally 
shocking,  and  criminal. 

>  7     i  JAMBLICUS,  in  his  treatise  of  mysteries,  insists 

co8    at  a  Sreat  length  upon  this  subject,  and  his  work 


mon:  supposes   through   the  whole,    this    distinction 

between  the  Theurgia  and  Goetia;  and  of  the 
former  he  seems  to  have  a  high  esteem.  What  both  of  them  had 
in  common,  is,  that  they  equally  employed  certain  words,  to  which 
a  certain  virtue  was  believed  to  be  annexed.  Sometimes  the 
mere  cliarm  of  these  words  wrought  all  the  effect  that  was  expect- 
ed; sometimes  it  was  necessary  to  add  to  them  compositions  of 
herbs:  there  was  always  a  necessity  for  observing  exactly  the  time 
when  the  sacrifices  were  offered,  the  days,  the  hours,  the  aspect 
of  the  stars,  the  number  and  quality  of  the  victims.  What  puzzled 
them  most,  was  to  know  what  Divinities  they  were  to  invoke,  what 
offerings  to  present  them,  vrhat  plants,  what  Jierfumes,  were  most 
agreeable  to  them.  And  indeed,  the  dose,  if  too  strong  or  too 
weak,  rendered  the  whole  magical  operation  abortive,  as  did  the 
omission  of  a  single  Divinity.  As  one  broken  string  disconcerts 
the  harmony  of  an  instrument;  just  so,  JAMBLICUS  remarks, 
one  God  whose  name  had  been  omitted,  or,  in  whose  honour  they 
had  neglected,  among  other  ingredients  that  were  offered,  the  par- 
ticuiar/it-r/wwe,  herb,  or  whatever  else  was  specially  consecrated  to 


CHAP.  HI.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  279 

SEC.  III.  OF    MAGIC. 

him,  defeated  the  effects  of  the  sacrifice.  Thus  it  was  also  •with  the 
form  of  prayers  and  other  ivords  that  were  of  necessity  to  be  pro- 
nounced; and  though  those  forms  were  often  composed  of  words 
in  a  strange  language,  which  were  not  understood,  it  was  neces- 
sary however  to  recite  them,  such  as  they  were, 'without  omitting 
one  syllable;  as  was  customary  in  Evocations  and  forms  of  Devo- 
ting. They  were  even  so  fully  persuaded  of  the  necessity  of  keep- 
ing exactly  to  the  ceremonial,  that  it  was  alleged,  if  Tullus  Hos- 
tilius  had  consulted  the  pontiff'  set  over  the  religious  rites,  when 
he  undertook  to  bring  down  Juf.itcr  from  heaven,  according  to 
the  forms  prescribed  in  the  ritual  of  Numa  Pompiiius,  he  had 
not  been  thunder-struck  for  an  omission  in  some  punctilio  of  the 
sacrifice,  which  he  offered  for  that  end. — PLIXY  ridicules  a  part 
of  this  superstition  with  some  humour;  when,  after  mentioning 
an  herb,  the  mere  throwing  of  which  into  the  midst  of  an  army, 
was  sufficient,  they  said,  to  put  it  to  the  rout,  he  asks,  "  Where 
was  this  herb  when  Rome  was  so  distressed  by  the  Cimbri  and 
Teutones?  Why  did  not  the  Persians  make  use  of  it  when  Lu- 
cullus  cut  their  troops  in  pieces?"  Then  resuming  his  serious  air, 
he  expostulates  with  Scipio  for  having  drawn  together  such  quan- 
tities of  arms  and  warlike  engines,  since  one  single  plant  had  been 
sufficient  to  open  to  him  the  gates  of  Carthage. 
•  •  '  They  who  professed  Theurgy,  did  not  arrive 

t!aetionalSto°f  the  a11  at  once'  at  that  state  of  perfection  to  which 
Theurgic  Magic:  they  aspired;  they  were  first  to  undergo  ex- 
— — — — •—  fiiations;  next,  they  got  themselves  initiated  into 
the  lesser  mysteries,  for  which  they  were  obliged  iofast  and/iray, 
to  live  in  strict  continence  and  self-purification,  as  a  preparation 
for  a  more  advanced  state:  then  came  the  high  mysteries,  where 
their  sole  employment  was  to  meditate,  and  contemplate  univer- 
sal Nature,  who  by  that  time  disclosed  all  her  secrets  to  them 
•who  had  passed  through  those  trials — Nero  who  was  so  foolish 
that  he  would  needs  command  the  Gods,  which  he  thought  there 


2X0  SUPERSTITIONS  Oi'    IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    MAGIC.  SEC.  III. 

was  no  way  of  attaining  but  by  Magic,  had  such  a  high   esteem 

for  the  Magicians,  that  he  sent  for  them  from  every  quarter, 

and  heaped  favours  upon  them.     Tiridates,  for  his  pains  in  pro- 

viding him  with  them,  was  rewarded  with  the  crown  of  Arme- 

nia. 

1  The  Pagans  were  so  fully  persuaded  of  the 

kits  of  *  Heroes  P°we1'  °f  Magic  esPecial!y  of  the  Theurgic  kind, 
attributed  to  this  and  of  the  efficacy  of  mysteries,  that  they  be- 
lieved those  prodigies  of  valour  performed  by 
Hercules,  Jason,  Castor  and  Pollux,  and  other 
heroes,  were  owing  to  their  initiation  into  these  mysteries.  VAR- 
RO,  the  most  learned  of  the  Romans,  was  so  convinced  of  the 
force  and  power  of  that  Magic,  that  he  did  not  doubt  that  what 
HOMER,  relates  of  the  transformation  of  Ulysses's  companions  into 
/togs,  was  the  effect  of  Circe's  enchantments.  He  judged  the  same 
way  of  what  was  given  out  concerning  the  Orcadians,  who,  ac- 
cording to  the  story,  as  they  were  swimming  over  a  pond,  were 
transformed  into  wolves,  and  recovered  their  former  figure  at  the 
end  of  nine  ijears,  if,  after  abstaining  from  human  flesh  during 
that  time,  they  repassed  the  same  pond. 

.  As  Paganism  admitted  a  vast  number  of  Gods, 

with  Paffan^rlie^    some  °f  them  beneficent,  others  malevolent;  and 


ology.  as  each  had  his  own  particular  worship  and  cere- 

"  monies  appropriated  to  him,  so  none  could  obtain 
a  favour  from  them,  nor  desired  success  in  their  enterprises,  un- 
less they  were  careful  to  observe  the  manner  of  worshipping  them, 
as  it  was  taught  by  religion.  This  principle  laid  down,  it  is  easy 
to  see  that  both  sorts  of  Magic  above  named  had  a  plain  con- 
nexion with  their  Theology,  and  that  such  as  professed  either  of 
them,  must  needs  have  been  excellent  Pagan  Theologues.  Thi» 
is  what  makes  PLINY  say,  that  Magic,  the  offspring  of  Medicine, 
after  having  fortified  itself  with  the  help  of  Astrology,  had  bor- 
rowed all  its  splendor  and  authority  from  Religion. 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP   IDOLATRY.  281 


•         Numa,  among  the  religions  ceremonies  he 

cy^or  ^voc^on     tau-^llt'   had   P''escribed    those    for    Evocation*; 
of  the  Manes:         which  were  a  consequence  of  Theurgic  Magic. 

Among  the  Evocations,  the  most  solemn,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  most  frequently  practised,  was  that  of  conjur- 
ing ufi  souls  departed,  commonly  called  Necromancy*  The  custom 
of  raising  the  Manes  was  so  ancient,  that  its  origin  is  traced  as  high 
as  the  earliest  periods  of  time;  and  all  the  anathemas  denounced 
by  the  sacred  authors,  against  those  who  consulted  familiar  spirits, 
are  proofs  of  the  antiquity  of  this  practice.  Among  the  different 
sorts  of  Magic  which  MOSES  prohibits,  that  of  calling  up  the  dead 
is  there  expressly  specified.  Every  body  knows  the  history  of  Saul, 
who  went  to  consult  the  witch  of  Endor>  to  call  up  the  ghost  of 
Samuel.  I  shall  not  enter  into  the  effect  which  this  conjuration 
produced,  nor  shall  I  examine  if  it  was  really  Samuel  who  appear- 
ed to  that  prince,  or  if  it  was  the  Devil  who  deceived  him  under 
a  borrowed  appearance;  or  in  fine,  if  the  witch  herself  imposed 
upon  him  by  some  illusion.  We  know  that  the  fathers  and  eccle- 
siastic writers  are  much  divided  in  their  sentiments  about  it,  and 
that  there  is  nothing  in  religion  to  determine  us  to  follow  the  one 
opinion  rather  than  the  other.  I  only  take  notice  of  the  use  of 
the  thing,  and  this,  it  is  certain,  was  as  ancient,  as  it  was  univer- 
sally practised. 
-.  .  Profane  authors  look  upon  ORPHEUS  as  the 

inventor  of  this  cursed  art;  and  so  far  indeed  it 


the  Art:  is  true,  'that  the  hymns  which  are  ascribed  to 

'  him,  are  mostly  real  pieces  of  conjuration:  but 

it  is  probable  this  practice  came  from  the  eastern  people,  and  was 
carried  into  Greece  with  the  other  religious  ceremonies,  by  colo- 
nies which  came  and  settled  there.  Let  this  be  as  it  will,  it  is 
certain  that  in  HOMER'S  time,  this  sort  of  conjuration  was  in  prac- 
tice, as  appears  from  some  passages  in  the  Iliad,  where  mention 
is  made  of  it.  Nor  v  as  it  at  that  time  reputed  odious  or  crimi- 


282  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    MAGIC.  SEC.  III. 

nal,  since  there  were  persons  who  nr.dc  public  profession  of  con- 
juring' up.  ghosts,  and  ihere  were  temples  where  the  ceremony  of 
conjuration  was  to  be  performed  PAUSANIAS  speaks  of  that  which 
•was  in  Thesprolia,  where  ORPHEUS  came  to  call  up  the  soul  of 
his  wife  Eurydice.  It  is  this  very  journey,  and  the  motive  which 
put  him  upon  it,  that  made  it  be  believed  he  went  down  to  hell, 
Ulysses's  travels  into  the  country  of  the  Cimmerians,  whither  he 
went  to  consult  the  ghost  of  Tiresias,  which  HOMER  so  well  de- 
scribes in  the  Odyssey,  has  all  the  air  of  such  another  conjuration; 
and  the  same  may  be  said  of  all  the  other  pretended  journeys  into 
Pluto's  kingdom. — But  it  is  not  only  the  poets  who  speak  of  con- 
juring' up,  spirits;  history  likewise  furnishes  examples  thereof. 
Periander,  the  tyrant  of  Corinth,  visited  the  Thesprotians,  to 
consult  about  something  left  with  his  wife  in  trust:  and  historians 
tell  us,  that  the  Lacedemonians,  having  starved  PAUSANIAS  to 
death  in  the  temple  of  Pallas,  and  not  being  able  to  appease  his 
Manes,  which  tormented  them  without  intermission;  sent  for  the 
Magicians  from  Thessaly,  who  having  brought  up  the  ghosts  of 
his  enemies,  they  banished  Pausanias's  ghost  so  effectually,  that 
it  was  obliged  to  quit  the  country.  I  have  no  mind  to  display  the 
horrid  rites  that  were  practised  by  those  who  dealt  in  Necroman- 
cy, when  they  raised  the  souls  of  the  dead:  it  is  enough  that  I 
have  showed  the  union  and  connexion,  which  this  execrable  art 
had  with  the  Pagan  religion  which  authorized  it. 

We  shall  conclude,  by  remarking  that  this 

Phrase,  to  call  up  souls,  is  not  accurate:  for  what 
souls.  the  Magicians,  and  priests,  appointed  in  the 

temples  of  the  Manes,  called  up,  was  neither 
soul  nor  body,  but  a  sort  of  middle  substance,  between  soul  and 
body,  which  the  Latins  call  Imago,  Umbra.  When  Patroclus  prays 
Achilles  to  grant  him  the  honours  of  burial,  it  is  that  he  might 
not  be  hindered  from  passing  the  fatal  river  by  the  thin  phantoms 
of  the  dead.  It  was  neither  soul  nor  body  that  went  down  to  the 


CHAP.  HI.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  283 

SEC.  IV.  OF    EXPIATIONS. 

infernal  regions,  but  these  phantoms:  accordingly,  Ulysses  sees 
the  phantom  of  Hercules  in  the  Elysian  Jields,  while  the  hero 
himself  is  in  Heaven.  But  I  shall  explain  this  point  of  Pagan 
Theology,  when  I  come  to  speak  of  the  Infernal  Regions. 


SECTION    FOURTH. 

OF  EXPMTIOJVS. 

-r  •   ••-  :  .•        EXPIATION  was  an  act  of  religion,  instituted 

finS-'Ssob'etts    for  tlie  PnrifyinS  the  Suilt7>  and  the  places  which 
stated.  were  reckoned  defiled.  Though  this  ceremony 

:  to  speak  accurately,  was  only  to  be  used  for 
crimes,  yet  they  put  it  in  practice  upon  several  other  occasions. 
Dread  of  public  calamities,  and  hope  of  appeasing  the  incensed 
Gods,  occasioned  the  institution  of  several  sorts  of  Expiations: 
monsters,  prodigies,  presages,  auguries,  all  were  subject  to  it;  and 
the  Expiatory  sacrifices  were  renewed  upon  a  thousand  occasions, 
insomuch  that  there  was  hardly  any  action  in  life,  whether  pri- 
vate or  public  but  had  need  of  them,  or  which  was  not  either  fol- 
lowed or  ushered  in  with  the  ceremony  of  Expiation.  Was  a  ge- 
neral to  assume  the  command  of  an  army?  were  games  or  festi- 
vals to  be  celebrated?  an  assembly  to  be  called?  or  was  a  person 
to  be  initiated  into  any  mystery?  in  all  such  cases  they  were  sure 
to  have  recourse  to  Expiatory  sacrifices.  As  to  private  life,  every 
individual  took  care  to  purify  himself,  not  only  for  the  smallest 
faults,  but  even  upon  occasion  of  every  object  which  superstition 
taught  to  consider  as  of  bad  portent.  Accordingly,  these  words, 
which  occur  so  often  in  the  writings  of  the  ancients,  Expiare, 
Purgare,  Februare,  signified  to  perform  acts  of  religion,  either 
for  blotting  out  some  fault,  or  for  diverting  impending  calamities. 


284  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  HI. 


OF    EXPIATIONS. 


Though  in  general,  public  expiations  were 
accompanied  with  prayers  and  sacrifices,  yet 
or  less  solemn.  there  were  of  them  more  or  less  solemn,  en- 
cumbered with  more  or  fewer  ceremonies;  nor 
was  it  always  the  same  Gods  who  were  to  be  invoked.  Those 
whom  the  Latins  styled  Averrunci,  were  implored  in  order  to 
avert  the  evils  which  some  prodigy  or  object  of  bad  omen  had 
portended.  They  were  free  to  make  their  addresses  to  others, 
upon  private  occasions,  wherein  they  thought  there  was  need  of 
J?.xfiialion.-—'Y\\e\e  wete  then  several  sorts  of  Expiations;  and 
particular  ceremonies  for  each  kind.  I  shall  say  but  little  of  those 
used  by  every  private  man,  since  it  sufficed  for  him  to  wash  him- 
selfi  or  to  receive  the  holy  water  when  he  was  entering  into  the 
temple;  but  I  shall  expatiate  more  fully  upon  those  which  reli- 
gion and  the  laws  had  prescribed. 

One  of  the  most  solemn,  was  what  they  used 
"P°n  the  Appearance  of  some  prodigy.  The 
senate,  after  having  ordered  the  Sibylline  books 
to  be  consulted  by  those  who  had  the  keeping  of  them,  to  see 
what  was  to  be  done  upon  those  occasions,  ordinarily  appointed 
days  of  fasting;  as  also  festivals,  especially  those  of  the  Lectis- 
ternia;  games;  public  firayers;  and  sacrifices.  Then  you  might 
have  seen  the  whole  city  of  Rome,  and  in  imitation  of  her,  all 
the  other  cities  of  the  empire,  in  mourning  and  consternation; 
the  Temples  adorned,  the  Lectisternia  prepared  in  the  public 
places,  Expiatory  sacrifices  repeated  over  and  over  again.  The 
senators  and  patricians,  their  wives  and  their  children,  with  gar- 
lands on  their  heads;  every  Tribe,  every  Order,  preceded  by  the 
high  Priest  and  the  Duumviri,  marched  gravely  through  the 
streets;  and  this  procession  was  accompanied  with  the  youth  sing- 
ing hymns,  or  repeating  prayers,  while  the  Priests  were  offering 
Expiatory  sacrifices  in  the  temples,  and  invoking  the  Gods  to  divert 
the  calamities,  with  which  they  thought  themselves  threatened. 


CHAP.  III.  •» ^      SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  285 


OF    EXPIATIONS. 


•  Anciently,  but  a -few  ceremonies  were  requir- 

for2HomicfdeU°n     ed  for  the  exPiation  of  homicide;  but  in  after- 
i-  times,  a  great  many  \vere  added,  and  it  became 

even  exceedingly  burdensome.  All  that  was  requisite  at  first,  for 
a  person's  purification  from  murder,  was  to  wash  himself  in  run- 
ning water;  and  thus  it  was,  according  to  ATHEN^US,  that^c/t//- 
les  was  purified,  after  having  killed  Strambelua  king  of  the 
Lxleges.  JEneas,  as  he  was  leaving  Troy,  then  in  the  enemy's 
hands,  left  to  his  father,  the  care  of  the  household  Gods  which  he 
was  going  to  take  along  with  him,  not  daring  to  touch  them  with 
his  polluted  hands,  until  he  had  purified  himself  in  some  river; 
a  punishment,  if  indeed  it  was  one,  abundantly  gentle,  for  a  crime 
such  as  homicide:  Accordingly  OVID,  after  having  mentioned 
several  heroes  who  had  been  purified  in  this  manner,  breaks  forth 
into  this  exclamation;  how  credulous  must  they  be,  who  believe 
that  the  crime  of  murder  can  be  purged  away  at  so  CdSjTa  rate! 
This  sort  of  Expiation  did  not  last  long,  since  we  see  in  the  he- 
roic ages,  it  was  attended  with  more  irksome  and  solemn  cere- 
monies: at  that  time,  when  the  offender  was  a  person  of  distinc- 
tion, even  kings  themselves  did  not  disdain  to  perfoim  the  cere- 
mony. Thus  in  APOLLODRUS,  Co/ircus,  who. had  sluin  Ifihisus, 
is  expiated  by  Euristheus  king  of  Mycenae.  Adrastus,  according 
to  the  testimony  of  HERODOTUS,  came  to  receive  Expiation 
from  Crcsus  king  of  Lydia.  Frequently  the  hero  guilty  of  man- 
slaughter, was  even  obliged  to  traverse  several  countries,  not 
lighting  upon  any  body  who  would  give  him  Expiation;  which 
was  the  case  of  Hercules,  who  was  expiated  at  length  by  Ceyx 
king  of  Trachinia.— rNobody  has  given  a  fuller  description  of  the 
ceremonial  of  this  sort  of  Expiation,  than  ApoLLoxiusof  Rhodes, 
on  occasion  of  the  murder  of  slbsyrlus,  the  brother  of  Medea^ 
slain  by  Jason:  that  prince,  says  he,  being  arrived  with  Medea  in 
the  island  of  ./Ea,  sent  their  addresses  to  Circet  desiring  her  to 
2  N 


286  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.          *  CHAP.  III. 


OF    EXPIATIONS. 


perform  the  ceremony  of  Expiation  for  them;  and  having  obtain- 
ed permission  to  come  to  the  place  of  that  princess,  they  advanc- 
ed both  of  them,  with  downcast  eyes,  after  the  manner  of  sup- 
pliants, till  they  came  up  to  the  hearth,  where  Jason  struck  into 
the  ground  the  sword  wherewith  he  had  slain  his  brother-in-law. 
Their  silence  and  posture  made  Circe  easily  perceive  that  they 
were  fugitives,  guilty  of  some  murder,  and  she  prepared  herself 
to  expiate  them.  First  she  caused  a  young  lug  not  yet  weaned, 
to  be  brought,  and  having  cut  its  throat,  she  rubbed  the  hands  of 
Jason  and  Medea  with  its  blood.  Then  she  offered  libations  in 
honour  of  Jupiter  Exfiiator.  After  which,  having  ordered  the  re- 
mains of  the  sacrifice  to  be  thrown  out  of  the  hall,  she  burned 
upon  the  altar,  cakes,  which  were  made  of  flour,  salt,  and  water, 
and  accompanied  these  ceremonies  with  prayers  proper  to  ap- 
pease the  wrath  of  the  Furies,  who  commonly  pursue  the  guilty. 
The  ceremony  being  ended,  she  caused  her  guests  to  sit  down 
upon  magnificent  seats,  where  they  were  regaled. — The  Roman's 
had  ceremonies  for  the  E.xfiiation  of  murder,  different  from  those 
of  the  Greeks.  We  have  a  very  authentic  example  of  them  in 
DIONYSIUS  of  Halicarnassus,  who  relates  in  what  manner  Hora- 
tius  was  expiated,  after  having  killed  his  Sister,  who  reproached 
him  for  the  death  of  her  lover,  one  of  the  Curiatii.  "  Sentence 
was  given,  says  he,  against  young  Horatius,  and  he  was  after- 
wanis  absolved  from  the  crime:  but  the  king,  who  did  not  think 
the  judgment  of  men  sufficient  to  absolve  a  criminal,  in  a  city 
which  made  profession  of  fearing  the  Gods,  sent  for  the  pontiffs, 
and  would  needs  have  them  to  appease  the  Gods  and  Genii,  and 
the  offender  to  pass  through  all  the  trials  that  were  in  use,  for 
expiating  involuntary  crimes.  The  pontiffs  therefore  erected  two 
altars,  the  one  to  Juno,  the  protectress  of  Sisters,  the  other  to  a 
certain  God  or  Genius  of  the  country,  who  has  since  borne  the 
name  of  the  Curiatii,  whom  Horatius  had  slain.  Upon  these 
altars  were  offered  several  sacrifices  of  expiation^  after  which, 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  287 

SEC.  IV.  •       OF    EXPIATIONS. 

the  criminal  was  made  to  pass  under  the  yoke;  that  is,  under  a 
cross  beam,  supported  by  two  other  pieces  of  timber." 

1  The  ceremony  of  Expiation  for  cities,  was  one 
for°  Citief^a'nd  of  the  most  solemn.  In  the  Roman  calendar, 
other  places.  there  were  days  marked  out  for  this  ceremony; 

which  mostly  corresponded  with  our  fifth  of 
February.  The  sacrifice  which  was  there  offered,  was  denomi- 
nated, according  to  SERVIUS,  Suburbale,  or  Suburbium,  and  the 
victims  there  sacrificed,  were  called,  as  FESTUS  has  it,  Ambur- 
btales.  Besides  this  festival,  there  was  another,  which  returned 
but  once  in  Jive  years,  the  solemnity  whereof  was  employed  in 
purifying  a  whole  city;  and  from  the  word  lustrare,  to  exfiiate, 
the  name  lustrum,  came  to  denote  the  sfiace  of  Jive  years. — Im- 
portant occasions  sometimes  made  it  necessary  to  celebrate  this 
solemnity,  out  of  the  ordinary  time,  as  was  the  case,  according  to 
DIONYSIUS  of  Halicarnassus,  when  the  Tarquins  were  banished 
from  Rome.  If  any  particular  place  happened  to  be  defiled,  they 
took  care  to  have  it  expiated;  and  these  sorts  of  Expiations  had 
names  whereby  they  were  designated.  That  of  the  croasivaysy 
for  instance,  was  te.rmed  Comjiitalia;  that  of  thejields,  was  called 
Ambarvalia.  The  Greeks  had  particular  Expiations  for  the  Thea- 
tre^ and  for  the  places  where  the  people  assembled. 

Before  and  after  battle,  there  was  a  purifica- 
l*on  °^  tne  ^rmy->  anc*  that  ceremony  was  term- 
ed  Arrniluatrium;  a  word  which  was  taken  in 
aftertimes,  to  express  a  review  of  the  troops,  as  appears  from 
several  passages  of  Caesar's  Commentaries;  just  as  that  of  Lus- 
trum was  taken  for  the  enrolment  of  the  people;  but  both  these 
ceremonies  were  always  accompanied  with  sacrifices.  The  fes- 
tival of  the  Armilustrium  was  celebrated  at  Rome,  on  the  nine- 
teenth of  October. 


288  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  I  If. 


OF    EXPIATIONS. 


1  To  these  public  Expiations,  I    might  subjoin 

Other   public 

expiations  to  be  those  which  they  used  in  order  to  be  initiated 
spoken  of  else-  jnto  {^e  greater  an(]  iesser  Eleusinian  mysteries, 
'  into  those  of  Mithras,  into  the  Orgies,  &c.  But 

of  these  I  shall  speak  in  the  history  of  Ceres,  in  that  of  the  Per- 
sian Gods,  and  in  that  of  Bacchus.  It  suffices  to  say  here,  that 
Lsting  was  often  prescribed  for  Expiations  of  this  sort;  thus  it  is 
we  are  to  understand  with  CLEMENS  of  Alexandria,  when  he 
says,  that  those  who  were  to  be  initiated,  being  interrogated  by 
the  priests,  answered,  "  /  have  performed  ivhat  is  prescribed  in 
order  to  the  mysteries,  I  have  kefit  the  Fast." 
....  The  firivate  Expiations  were  far  more  nume- 

tionsT™  lous  tlnin  l*le  P"blic -ones;  singe  they  used  these 

•  .     -  in  almost  every  action  of  life,  as  we  have  already 

remarked:  thus,  there  were  neither  nuptials,  no  funerals,  nor 
hardly  any  matter  of  consequence,  that  was  not  preceded  by  Ex- 
piation. Whatever  was  reputed  of  bad  portent;  the  encounter  of 
a  tveazle,  a  raven,  or  a  hare}  an  unexpected  storm,  a  dream,  and 
a  thousand  other  accidents,  obliged  the  people  to  have  recourse 
to  the  same  ceremony.  But  it  is  necessary  tp  observe,  that  for 
these  sorts  of  private  Expiations,  there  was  not  always  a  necessi- 
ty, as  in  the  public  ones,  of  offering  sacrifices;  but  a  simple  ablu- 
tion sufficed.  The  sea-water,  however,  when  it  could  be  had,  was 
preferred  to  fountain-water;  and  this  latter,  to  that  which  stagna- 
ted. Sometimes  the  party  was  obliged  to  wash  his  whole  body, 
sometimes  only  his  hands  or  ears.  It  is  from  EURIPIDES  we  learn 
this  last  usage,  when  he  makes  flififiotitus  say,  that  as  he  looked 
upon  himself  to  be  polluted  for  having  been  solicited  to  a  crime, 
so  he  must  needs  wash  his  ears.  PROCOPIUS  of  Gaza,  speaking 
of  the  Expiations  so  much  in  use  among  the  J.ews,  informs  us 
that  in  general  they  made  use  of  wafer,  salt,  barley,  laurel,  and  even 
Jire,  which  those  were  made  to  pass  through,  who  were  to  be  pu- 
rifiedi  and  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  Pagans,  in  the  ceremo- 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  289 

SEC.  IV.  OF    EXPIATIONS. 

nies  of  their  Expiations,  had  imitated  most  of  those  which  MOSES 
had  prescribed  to  the  Jews,  as  is  proved  by  learned  commentators 
on  the  Sacred  Books. 
...  Here  I  should  subjoin  what  regards  Oaths,  one 

sort  of  Spiations  of  the  most  ancient  and  most  solemn  acts  of  re- 
examined,—  ligion,  since  it  was  a  kind  of  Expiation — he  who 
took  the  Oath,  purging  himself  thereby  from  the 
crime  that  was  laid  to  his  charge.  But  this  subject  has  been  han- 
dled by  several  authors,  whether  lawyers  or  divines.  I  shall  give 
the  substance  of  two  learned  dissertations  of  the  Abbe  MASSIEU, 
who  examines  the  following  questions. 
=====  1st,  What  was  the  origin  of  Oaths?  which  he 

fwftf    As    to    says  js  near  as  ancient  as  the  world,  since  they 
their  origin;  f 

began  as  soon  as  men  became  false  and  dishonest. 

2d,  By  what  Divinities  the  ancients  swore?  and 
Second,  by  what     ,  .  ~     , 

Gods  they  swore-     ne  Proves,  that  it  was  by  almost  all  the  Gods,  es- 

=====  pecially  by  TWO,  who  were  regarded  as  the  gua- 
rantees thereof,  to  wit:  Bona  fides,  and  Dens  Fidius.  The  Gods 
themselves  swore  by  the  Styx,  and  this  Oath  was  of  all  others  the 
most  inviolable. 

.    ' '  3d,  What  were   the  ceremonies  of  the  Oath? 

At  first  they  were  very  simple,  and  no  more 
was  required  but  holding  up  the  hand,  as  is  stiil 
the  practice  at  this  day.  The  Great  introduced 
more  formality  into  it;  Kings  lifted  up  their  sccfitres,  Generals 
of  armies  their  sfiears  or  shields,  and  the  Soldiers  their  swords, 
the  joints  of  which  some  of  them  put  to  their  throats,  as  we  learn 
from  MARCELLINUS.  In  later  times,  it  was  required  that  the 
Oath  should  be  taken  in  the  temples,  the  party,  laying  his  hand 
upon  the  altar;  and  if  there  was  occasion  for  tuking  an  Oath  when 
no  temples  were  near,  an  altar  was  raised  in  haste,  or  there  were 
portable  ones  ready  for  immediate  use.  Frequently  too  it  happen- 


290  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  lit. 

OF    EXPIATIONS.  SEC.  IV. 

ed,  that  those  who  swore,  dipt  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  the 
sacrificed  victims. 

1     '  4th,  What  were  the  moral  sentiments  of  the 

obli  Ttkm^of^an    anc'ents  about  Oaths?  to  which  the  unequivocal 
Oath;  answer  is,  they  were  such,    that    perjury   was 

looked  upon  as  the  greatest  of  crimes.  But 
more  allowances  were  made  for  the  Oaths  of  orators,  poets,  and 
lovers;  yet  even  the.se  were  not  taken  in  courts  of  justice.  That 
fine  sentiment  of  PYTHAGORAS,  honour  the  Gods,  and  revere  an 
Oath,  comprehends  according  to  the  commentators  on  that  fa- 
mous philosopher,  the  purest,  and  at  the  same  time,  the  most 
sublime  morality,  with  relation  to  this  last  act  of  religion. 

''         5th,  The  use  which  the  ancients  made  of  an 

occasions*"  were     ^at!l  *n  c*v*'  soc'ety  •  and  tn*s  was  natch  the  same 
Oaths  used;  as  among  ourselves,  that  is,  it  was  required  of 

all  who  entered  into  an  office,  or  who  were  to  in- 
termeddle in  any  manner  of  way  with  the  government,  and  the 
public  re-venues.  The  General,  when  he  assumed  the  com- 
mand of  an  army;  the  Soldier  when  he  was  listed;  those  who 
entered  into  the  priesthood,  or  into  other  offices  which  depended 
upon  it;  the  Vestals,  the  Augurs,  the  Feciales;  or  those  who  were 
employed  in  treaties  of  peace;  all  of  them  were  obliged  to  take 
an  Oath. 

6th,  In  fine,  what  notion   they  had  in  those 

duys>   of  such  as  violated  their  Oath?     And  our 
author  finds  that  they  were  looked  upon  as  the 

basest  of  all  mortals,  since  they  had  trampled 
upon  all  the  sacred  lies  of  religion,  and  endeavoured  to  put  a  cheat 
upon  the  GOI.S,  as  well  as  upon  Men. 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.  291 


OF    PUBLIC    SUPPLICATIONS. 


SECTION    FIFTH. 

OF  PUBLIC  SUPPLICJTfONS. 

SUPPLICATION,  among  the  Pagans,  consisted 
Definition; —     .  r  . 

Private  Supplica-    m  prayer  for  favours  desired,  or   thanksgiving 

ticed  Slightly  n°"  fo1'  benefits  received,  whether  public  or  private. 
•  —We  are  not  to  insist  upon  private  Supplica- 
tions, which  were  nothing  else  but  prayers,  which  every  one  put 
up  to  the  Gods,  either  to  obtain  health,  a  good  harvest,  or  to 
thank  them  for  mercies  received,  £cc  A  single/or/mi/a  of  their 
prayers  will  be  sufficient  to  give  us  some  idea  of  them:  here  is 
one  preserved  in  an  inscription,  which  Camilla  Amata  makes  to 
the  fe-ver  of  her  son  in  sickness.  Camilla  Amata  offers  up  her 
prayers  for  her  sick  son,  to  the  divine  Febris,  the  holy  Febrisy  the 
great  Febris. 

• '         The  public  Supplications  were  made  either  in 
Public   Sut)T)li-  •  •     i  • 

cations— on  what    some  crmcal  juncture,  as  in  time  of  a  plague,  or 

occasions  observ-  SOme  epidemical  calamity;  or  after  an  unexpect- 
ed. 

••  ed  victory, or  when  a  newly  elected  general  ap- 

plied to  the  senate  to  be  confirmed  by  them,  and  to  have  a  Sup- 
plication  appointed  for  obtaining  the  favour  of  the  Gods;  as  also 
for  other  reasons.  These  Supplications  occasioned  solemn  days, 
on  which  there  was  to  be  no  pleading  upon  any  account  whatso- 
ever, and  they  were  celebrated  by  sacrifices,  prayers,  and  public 
feasts.  Sometimes  the  senate  limited  the  duration  of  ihis  festival 
to  one  day;  sometimes  it  took  up  several;  and  history  informs  us, 
that  some  of  them  lasted  Jifty  days. 

\st,   The  Lectisternia.- 

There  was  a  kind  of  public  Supplication,  which 
they  called  the<  Lectisternia^  from  lectus  a  bed, 
and  sternere  to  make  up.     This  ceremony  con- 
sisted in  a  feast  which  was  prepared,  and  which 
was  kept  in  the  templej  and  because,  according  to  the  customs 


292  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    PUBLIC    SUPPLICATIONS.  SEC.  V. 

of  those  times,  they  arranged  beds  round  the  tables,  and  placed 
upon  these  beds  the  statues  of  the  Gods,  in  whose  honour  the 
festival  was  celebrated,  in  the  same  way  as  men  used  to  lay  there- 
on at  meals;  hence  they  got  the  name  of  Lectisternia.  The  Efiu- 
lones  mentioned  under  the  article  of  the  Priests,  presided  at  this 
ceremony,  and  were  the  regulators  of  it.  VALERIUS  MAXIMUS  • 
takes  notice  of  a  Lectisternii;m,  celebrated  in  honour  of  Jufiiter. 
That  God,  that  is  his  statue,  was  laid  there  upon  a  bed;  while 
those  of  Juno  and  Minerva  were  upon  chains. — TITUS  LIVIUS, 
CICERO,  LAMPRIDIUS,  and  others,  make  frequent  mention  of 
this  ceremony;  and  the  first  of  these  authors  refers  its  institution 
to  the  year  of  Rome  354,  upon  occasion  of  the  plague  which 
raged  in  the  city.  This  Lectisterninm  lasted  for  eight  days,  and 
was  celebrated  in  honour  of  ^l/iollo,  Latona^  Diana,  Hercules^ 
Mercury  and  Ne/itune.  VALERIUS  MAXIMUS  indeed  mentions 
another  rrtore  ancient,  since  according  to  him,  it  was  celebrated 
under  the  consulship  of  Brutus,  and  Valerius  Poplicola;  but  it 
seems  it  was  cither, less  solemn,  or  LIVY  knew  nothing  of  it. 

=================         Until  the  time  of  CASAUBON,  the  Lectister. 

it    was    in     use,        . 

both  amon^  the    mum  was  believed  to  have  been  ot  Roman  insti- 

Greeks  and  the  tution,  and  not  to  have  been  known  out  of  Italy; 
Romans: 

.    but  that  learned  critic,  examining  a  passage  of 

the  scholiast  .upon  PINDAR,  and  finding  there  mention  made  of 
those  pillows,  or  cushions,  which  they  put  under  statues  of  the 
Gods,  from  thence  has  justly  concluded,  that  the  Lectisternium 
•was  in  use  among  the  Greeks.  Authors  have  been  found  to  sup- 
port this  discovery,  and  the  truth  of- it  is  now  no  longer  contro- 
verted. And  indeed  PAUSANIAS  speaks  in  several  places  of  those 
sorts  of  cushions;  and  in  his  travels  through  Arcadia,  tells  us,  that 
some  of  them  were  put  under  the  statues  of  Peace;  and  in  his 
Phocica,  he  speaks  of  those  on  which  they  placed  the  statues  of 
JEsculafiius.  VALERIUS  MAXIMUS,  says  the  same  of  the  statues 
of  ffarmadius  .and  dristogiton.  "  The  statues,  says  he,  of  these 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  293 

SEC.  V.  OF    PUBLIC    SUPPLICATIONS. 

two  heroes,  who  had  done  so  much  to  rescue  Athens  from  the 
tyranny  it  groaned  under,  having  been  carried  away  by  Xerxes, 
Seleucus  restored  them  afterwards;  and  when  the  ship  that 
brought  them,  arrived  at  Rhodes,  the  chief  men  of  the  city  in- 
vited them  to  be  their  guests,  and  placed  them  upon  pillows." 
SUETONIUS  reckons  these  fallows  among  those  things  that  were 
appropriated  only  to  the  Gods;  for  when  speaking  of  Caesar, 
he  says,  "  he  even  suffered  such  honours  to  be  decreed  him  as 
are  too  high  for  mere  mortals,  such  as  temples,  altars,  statues  as 
those  of  the  Gods,  the  sacred  pillow"  See.  JAMES  SPON,  in  his 
travels  through  Greece,  tells  us,  that  the  Lectisternium  of  Isis  and 
Serapis  was  still  to  be  seen  at  Athens.  It  was  a  small  marble  bed, 
of  two  feet  in  length,  by  one  in  height,  on  which  those  two  Divi- 
nities were  represented  sitting.  This  learned  traveller  says,  that 
others,  like  them,  were  found  in  the  same  city;  as  also  at  Sala- 
mis  and  elsewhere.  From  this  relation  we  learn  the  true  form  of 
the  cushions:  they  were  small  beds,  either  of  marble,  stone,  or 
wood,  on  which  they  placed  the  statues  of  the  Gods,  in  honour 
of  whom  a  feast  was  prepared. — After  what  has  been  said,  it  is 
evident,  that  the  Lectisternium  was  equally  in  use  in  Greece  and 
in  Italy. 

-  -•  The  days  set  apart  for  this  festival  were  most 

its     celebration,  .  .        . 

and  its  immuni-    solemn;  during  which,  it  was  not  allowed  to  in- 

ties;— by    whom    gjct   punishment  upon   any  description  of  per- 

•  sons,  so  that  criminals  were  even  set  at  liberty. 
It  was  the  chief  magistrate,  or  high  priest,  who  appointed  the 
festival;  and  its  end  was  to  appease  the  Gods,  or  to  supplicate 
them  for  favours.  We  have  only  to  say  farther,  that  the  table  for 
\\-\efcast,  and  the  beds  on  which  the  Gods  were  to  lie,  were 
adornc<l  with  branches,  flowers,  and  odoriferous  herbs. — So  much 
for  this  subject;   let  us  now  give  some  short  account  of  the 
Evocation's. 

2  O 


294  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 


OF    PUBLIC    SUPPLICATIONS.  SEC.  V. 

2rf,  The  E-vocafions. 

.      .    •  .  •  Of  Evocations,  there  were  three  sorts:  the 

Three  sorts  of 

Evocations,  viz  —   <ftrsf  were  magical  operations,  which  they  used  in 
1st,  to  call  up  the        d      t        fl  ufl  sou/8  departed  or  the  Manes;  and 
Manes,  --  3d,     a 
prayer  in  making    of  them  I  have  spoken  in  the  article  of  Magic. 

'ege9'  The  second^  which  I  shall  here  consider,  was 


ordinarily  employed,  during  the  siege  of  some  town,  which  they 
thought  it  neither  their  duty  nor  in  their  power  to  take,  without 
invoking  the  Gods,  under  whose  protection  it  was.  We  have  in 
MACHOBIUS  a  form  of  this  sort  of  Evocation  preserved,  which 
will  give  the  reader  a  better  notion  of  the  thing  than  all  we  can 
deliver  on  the  subject.  "  Whether  it  be  a  God,  or  whether  it  be  a 
Goddess,  under  whose  tuition  the  city  and  people  of  Carthage  is,  I 
supplicate  you,  I  conjure  you,  and  I  earnestly  r  ?  quest  you,  ye  great 
Gods,  who  have  taken  this  city  and  people  under  your  protection,  to 
abandon  both  city  and  people,  to  quit  all  those  mansions,  temples,  and 
sacred  places;  to  cast  them  off,  infuse  into  them  fear,  consternation^ 
and  a  spirit  of  forgetfulnezs;  and  -vouchsafe  to  repair  to  Rome  to 
dwell  among  us:  graciously  accept  of  our  mansions,  temples,  sacred 
things,  and  our  whole  city.  Let  it  be  seen,  that  you  are  the  defence 
of  me  and  my  army,  and  of  the  Roman  people.  Grant  me  these 
petitions,  and  I  voiv  and  promise  to  found  temples  and  games  to  your 
honour." 

-••••;•••         Lastly,  the  third  sort  of  Evocation  was,  that 

3d,  This    was         ...  •     .  .          ...  .     ,-,    ,        .  . 

used  to  call  up    which  was  used  in  calling  up  the  (rods.    In  order 

the     Gods;     to    to  understand  what  I  am  to  say  upon  this  head 
which    they  con-  ' 

nectecl  —  we  must  know  it  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Pagan 

-~  Theology,  that  the  Gods  in  a  peculiar  manner 
presided  over  certain  places,  and  that  frequently  several  of  those 
places  were  under  the  protection  of  the  same  God;  and  it  being 
impossible  for  him  to  be  in  them  all  at  once,  it  was  necessary  to 
use  the  (jeremony  of  Evocation,  when  his  presence  was  thought 
needful.  They  had  hymn  a  proper  to  this  operation,  as  are  most 


CHAP.  HI.  SUPERSTITION'S  OP   IDOLATRY.  295 

SEC.  V.  OF    PUBLIC    SUPPLICATIONS. 

of  those  which  are  ascribed  to  ORPHEUS,  and  those  of  the  poet 
PKOCLUS.  Those  hymns  generally  were  composed  of  two  parts: 
theirs?  was  taken  up  in  the  praises  of  the  Gods,  and  in  celebra- 
ting the  different  places  under  their  protection;  the  second  con- 
tained the  prayer  whereby  they  endeavoured  to  invite  and  allure 
them  to  the  places  where  iheir  presence  was  necessary.  When 
they  thought  the  patron  God  was  arrived,  they  celebrated  the 
festivals:  Such  were  some  of  those  which  the  Argives  kept  in 
honour  of  Juno ,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Delos  and  Miletus  in  hon- 
our of  Apollo, 

'  As  soon  as  the  danger  which  had  made  them 

the  ceremony  of    .  „     , 

taking    leave    of    inv°ke  the  Gods  was  over,  they  gave  them  hber- 

them- ty  to  go  any  where  they  listed;  and  they   had 

other  hymns  for  celebrating  their  departure.  Ju- 
Hus  SCALIGER,  who  may  be  consulted  upon  this  subject,  ob- 
serves, that  these  hymns,  wherein  BACCHYLLIDES  the  lyric  poet 
chiefly  excelled,  were  of  greater  length  than  those  used  for  invi- 
ting the  Gods,  in  order  thereby  to  detain  them  as  long  as  possi- 
ble. For  when  we  desire  an  object,  says  he,  we  wish  to  be 
quickly  possessed  of  it;  bxit  if  it  is  to  leave  us,  we  wish  it  to  be  as 
long  as  possible  before  we  be  deprived  of  it. 

3d)  The  forms  of  Devoting. 

••••  The  forms  of  Devoting,  which  the  Romans 

Public  and  pri-  .  . 

vate  Devotings.       called  Devotee,  were  either  private,  as  those  of 

1  the  two  DECII,  and  of  Marcus  Curtius,  who  de- 
voted themselves  to  save  the  Romans;  or /2udlic,'as  performed  by 
the  dictator,  or  consul,  at  the  head  of  an  army.  Here  is  their  form 
of  public  Devoting,  transmitted  to  us  by  the  same  MACROBIUS. 
"  Father  Dis,  Pluto,  Jupiter,  Manes,  or  by  whatever  name  it  is 
lawful  to  call  you,  I  beseech  you  to  Jill  this  city  Carthage,  and  the 
army  I  mean,  •with  terror  and  consternation:  grant  that  they,  tvho 
bear  arms  against  our  legions  and  army,  may  be  put  to  the  rout,  that 
the  inhabitants  of  their  cities,  and  of  their  fields,  with  all  that  dwell 


1296  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  HI. 

OF    PUBLIC    SUPPLICATIONS.  SEC.  V. 

X 

in  them,  of  every  age,  may  be  devoted  to  you,  according  to  the  laws 
by  which  our  greatest  enemies  are  devoted.  I,  by  the  authority  of 
my  commission,  devote  them  in  name  of  the  Roman  people,  in 
name  of  the  army,  and  in  name  of  our  legions,  that  you  may 
preserve  both  the  commanders,  and  those  iv/io  serve  under  them" 
Whenever  the  law  devoted  any  one  to  death,  it  was  permitted  to 
kill  him.  There  was  one  of  Romulus'  laws  conceived  in  these 
terms:  If  any  patron  defrauds  his  client,  let  him  be  devoted.  It 
was  to  Pluto,  or  Dis,  and  the  other  infernal  Deities,  that  crimi- 
nals were  devoted. —  Antiquity  has  not  transmitted  to  us  the  form 
of  private  Devoting,  but  certain  it  is  there  was  one;  for  when 
Decius  devoted  himself,  he  gave  notice  to  the  pontiff  Valerius, 
to  proceed  to  pronounce  the  form  of  devoting. 

=======         1  shall  say  nothing  here  of  the  supplications 

Of  votive  mem-          ,  .  T  r 

kers  and  VGIVS  made  by  certain  persons:    I  toreseej 

=====  that  the  enumeration  of  them  would  be  endless; 
and  we  could  learn  nothing  from  them,  but  that  the  Gods  having 
been  always  looked  upon  by  the  Pagans  as  the  authors  of  all  good 
and  evil,  they  were  careful  to  address  them,  in  order  to  obtain  the 
good  things,  and  be  delivered  from  the  evils  of  life:  that  in  dan- 
gers or  sickness,  they  put  up  supplications  to  them  for  deliver- 
ance, and  recovery  of  health:  and  in  fine,  that  from  gratitude, 
they  even  put  into  temples,  representations  of  the  members,  for 
the  cure  whereof  they  thought  themselves  indebted  to  them.  Of 
these,  we  have  great  numbers  preserved  by  antiquaries,  as  may 
be  seen  in  their  works.  Among  these  vows  or  votive  members, 
there  were  some  that  bore  the  characters  of  different  Gods,  as 
that  which  is  called  the  hand  of  JLneas,  upon  which  is  Votum  Ce- 
cropis,  and  which  has  been  explained  in  a  small  tract  of  THOMA- 
SINE.  Sometimes  it  was  a  single  hand,  an  arm,  a  leg,  or  an  eye, 
without  any  symbol.  What  we  find  most  singular  among  these 
•vows,  is  a  table  of  brass,  on  which  mention  is  made  of  all  the 
cures  wrought  by  the  interposition  of  JE&cuiafiius. 


CHAP.  m.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.  297 

SEC.  V.  OF    PUBLIC    SUPPLICATIONS. 

4th,  Ceremonies  used  at  the  founding  of  Cities,  Temples,  &c. 
•  1  have  noticed  that  the  ancients  used  E-vota- 

nies  ojmmTifced]    cations,  at  besieging  a  city,  in  order  to  invoke 

probably,  in Etru-    the  Gods,  under  whose  protection  it  was;  and  as 
ria. 
...  these  same  Gods  were  owned  for  patrons  of  the 

city  at  the  time  it  was  founded,  it  is  proper  before  concluding 
this  CHAPTER,  to  say  something  of  the  cerensonies  in  use  upon 
that  occasion. — We  learn  from  FESTUS,  that  the  Etrurians  had 
books  concerning  the  ceremonies  observed  at  the  founding  of 
Cities,  Altars,  Temples,  Walls,  and  Gates.  PLUTARCH  tells  us, 
that  Romulus,  before  he  laid  the  foundation  of  Rome,  sent  for 
men  from  Etruria,  who  informed  him  in  all  the  punctilios  of  cere- 
mony which  he  was  to  observe.  According  to  DIONYSIUS  of 
Halicarnassus,  they  began  with  offering  a  sacrifice,  after  which 
they  kindled  fires  near  the  tents;  and  they  who  were  to  have  any 
employment  in  building  the  town,  leaped  over  these  fires,  to  pu- 
rify themselves.  They  then  dug  a  ditch,  into  which  they  threw 
the  first  fruits  of  all  things  that  served  for  human  nourishment, 
and  a  handful  of  earth  from  the  country  to  which  each  of  them 
belonged,  who  were  to  assist  at  the  ceremony.  At  the  same  time 
they  consulted  the  Gods,  to  know  if  the  enterprise  would  be  ac- 
ceptable to  them,  and  if  they  approved  of  the  day  chosen  to  begin 
the  work.  Then  they  chalked  out  the  boundaries  by  a  score  of 
white  earth,  which  they  called  Terra  fiura;  and  for  want  of  this 
kind  of  chalk,  they  made  use  of  flour,  as  STRABO  assures  us  was 
done  by  Alexander,  when  he  laid  the  foundation  of  Alexandria. 
This  first  operation  being  finished,  they  opened  a  furrow,  as  deep 
as  possible,  with  a  brazen  plough;  and  to  this  plough  they  yoked  a 
•white  bull,  and  a  white  heifer.  All  the  ground  opened  by  the 
plough  was  reputed  HOLY.  Wbile  they  were  forming  the  boun- 
dary, they  stopped  at  certain  intervals  to  renew  the  sacrifices, 
and  marked  the  places  where  they  were  offered,  by  a  heap  of 
stones,  which  they  called  Cippi.  In  these  sacrifices,  they  invoked, 


298  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    FESTIVALS.  SEC.  VI. 

besides  the  Gods  of  the  country,  denominated  Dii  Patrii  Indi- 
getes,  also  the  Gods,  to  whose  protection  the  new  city  was  re- 
commended, which  was  done  secretly,  because  it  was  necessary 
that  the  tutelar  Gods  should  be  unknown  to  the  vulgar.  In  fine, 
so  much  regarded  was  the  day  on  which  a  City  was  founded,  that 
they  kept  up  the  memory  of  it  by  an  anniversary  festival;  and  at 
Rome,  this  festival  was  what  they  called  the  Palilia. — The  cere- 
monies practised  among  the  Ancients  in  consecrating  the  ground 
•whereon  a  Temple  was  to  be  erected,  is  the  same  species  of  su- 
perstition with  that  we  have  just  spoken  of;  and  conformably  to 
method,  should  be  noticed  here;  but  having  spoken  of  it,  when 
treating  of  Temples,  in  order  to  give  full  satisfaction  on  that 
head,  we  need  not  here  repeat  what  the  reader  has  already  seen. 


SECTION   SIXTH. 
OF  FESTIVALS. 

The  Ancients  consecrated  Festivals  to  nearly 
On  what  occa-       ,,    ,     .      r»   •  •         u 

sions  were  Festi-     a"  t'leir  Deitiest  Heroes,  remarkable  events,  or 
vals  instituted.        other  matters  which  they  thought  to  be  of  great 
public  concern;   nor  were  they  less  profuse  of 
these  ceremonies  even  to  appease  the  Manes  of  the  dead. 

-  •  The  majority  of  the    Festivals  derive  their 

Whence    they  c 

derived         their     names  fr°m  tne   objects   upon    whom   those  SU- 

names.  persutious  honours  were   conferred:  as  that  of 

slfiollonia,  among  the  many  festivals  instituted 
in  honour  of  jifiollo;  and  the  Bacchanalia,  among  those  in  honour 
of  Bacchus.  Others  owe  their  names  to  the  places  where  they 
were  celebrated:  as  that  of  Busiris,  in  honour  of  lets;  and  the 
)  in  honour  of  Diana,  A  third,  but  less  numerous  class, 


CHAP.  HI.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF    IDOLATRY. 

SEC.  VI.  OF    FESTIVALS. 

took  their  names  from  the  matter  of  the  offering:  as  that  of  the 
Hccatombaa,  which  w.ts  attended  with  a  sacrifice  of  an  hundred 
Oxen. 

-  The  Ancients  had  so  many  Festivals,  that  it 
ofThemP7venPian  woulcl  he  fruitless  to  attempt,  as  well  as  useless 
the  three  follow-  to  give,  an  account  of  them  all.  I  shall  only 
ing  Articles.  . 

.  mention    the    principal  ones   instituted   by  the 

Egyptians,  Greeks,  and  Romans,  under  those  respective  heads; 
and  hope  by  explaining  some  passages  in  history  which  gave 
rise  to  them,  to  atone  for  the  dryness  of  the  calendar. 

1*?,  Egyptian  Festivals. 
•        Never  was  a  religion  more  encumbered  witli 

The  character     ceremonjes  tnan  t|iat  of  tjie   Egyptians,  and  Do- 
or  the   Egyptian 
Festivals.  thing  was  ever  accompanied  with  more  outward 

splendor  than  their  Festivals.  An  infinite  con- 
course of  people,  licentiousness,  jollity,  all  combined  in  their 
celebration:  and  if  the  priests  onjthe  one  hand,  made  preparation 
for  them  by  fasting,  continence^f^d  other  burthensome  ceremo- 
nies; the  people  on  the  o;her  hand,  longed  for  them,  as  the  most 
proper  days  of  their  lives  for  riot  and  debauchery. — Among  those 
Festivals,  they  reckoned  the  following  principal  ones. 
.  First,  The  Festival  of  Osiris,  or  his  symbol 

of  Osiris  FeStlVal  Apis,  at  Memphis.  The  two  most  extraordinary 
;=====  ceremonies  of  this  Festival,  were,  the  death  and 
the  re-appearance  of  the  Ox  Apis',  for  the  sacred  books  of  the 
priests  prescribed  to  this  Deity  a  precise  day  beyond  which  he 
was  not  permitted  to  live;  and  if  his  natural  death  did  not  occur 
on  that  day,  he  was  drowned  in  the  j\'ile  with  great  solemnity, 
and  another  Apis  substituted  in  his  place,  with  the  same  marks  as 
though  he  had  returned. — The  dead  Apis  was  embalmed  and  in- 
terred at  Memphis,  and  after  that,  the  priests  were  permitted  to 
enter  the  temple  of  Serapis,  a  privilege  which  they  were  for- 
bidden as  long  as  the  Festival  lasted. — After  the  death  of  the  Ox 


SOO  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF     FESTIVALS.  SEC.  VI. 

Afii*,  the  people  mourned  and  made  lamentations,  as  if  Osiris 
had  been  but  just  then  dead:  the  priests  cut  off  their  hair;  which 
in  Egypt  was  a  sign  of  the  deepest  mourning;  and  this  mourning 
lasted  till  they  got  another  Ox  to  appear,  resembling  the  former 
in  the  same  marks.  Then  they  began  to  make  merry,  as  if  the 
prince  himself  had  arisen  from  the  dead.  HERODOTUS  tells  us, 
that  this  Ox  was  to  be  black  over  all  the  body,  with  a  square  white 
mark  in  the  forehead;  upon  the  back  he  was  to  have  the  figure  of 
an  eagle;  a  knot  undei'  his  tongue  in  the  figure  of  a  beetle;  the 
hairs  of  his  tail  double;  and  according  to  PLINY,  a  white  mark 
upon  his  right  side,  which,  as  we  learn  from  AMMIANUS  MAII- 
CELIVUS  and  JEUan,  was  to  resemble  the  crescent  of  the  Moon. 
And  then  the  last  qualification  was  an  extraordinary  generation; 
such  as,  his  mother  having  conceived  him  by  a  clap  of  thunder. 
Without  examining  into  these  mysteries,  I  am  of  opinion,  that 
the  priests  imprinted  the  marks  I  have  been  speaking  of,  upon 
some  young  calves  which  thejt  brought  up  secretly:  and  to  re- 
move any  suspicion  of  the  imposture,  they  took  care  that  their 
God  Ajiis  should  sometimes  be  long  before  he  appeared.  After 
having  found  a  bull  proper  to  represent  Afiis,  he  was  left,  before 
they  conducted  him  to  Memphis,  in  the  city  of  the  Nile,  where 
he  was  fed  for  forty  clays.  During  which  time,  the  women  only 
were  allowed  to  see  him;  and  they  presented  themselves  before 
him  in  a  very  indecent  manner.  The  forty  days  being  expired, 
he  was  put  into  a  barge,  where  they  had  a  gilded  niche  for  his 
reception;  and  thus  he  was  carried  down  the  Nile  to  Memphis, 
in  a  formal  procession  led  by  the  priests.  There  the  obscene 
image  of  the  Phallus,  which  Isis  had  consecrated,  was  carried  in 
procession;  which  became  the  symbol  of  fruitfulness,  though  in 
its  original  institution  it  had  only  been  the  mark  of  the  passion  of 
that  princess  for  her  husband  Osiris.  This  Festival  lasted  seven 
days;  and  what  is  very  singular,  it  was  believed  that  the  children 
who  had  smelled  the  breath  of  Afiis^  acquired  thereby  a  prophetic 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  301 

SEC.  VI.  OF    FESTIVALS. 

power. —  When  Cambyses  arrived  at  Memphis  upon  his  return 
from  Ethiopiaj  an  expedition  which  proved  so  unhappy  to  him, 
he  found  the  people  engaged  in  celebrating  the  Festival  of  Osiris, 
and  imagining  they  were  rejoicing  at  his  disgrace,  sent  for  the 
priests  to  demand  the  occasion  of  their  joy.  They  having  made 
answer  that  they  were  celebrating  the  appearance  of  -Afiis,  who 
had  not  been  seen  for  a  great  while,  Cambyses  dissatisfied  with 
the  answer,  which  he  thought  a  prevarication,  ordered  them  to 
bring  before  him  that  pretended  God  of  theirs,  and  gave  him  a 
wound  with  his  sword,  whereof  he  died;  he  also  caused  the 
priests  to  be  lashed;  and  ordered  his  soldiers  to  massacre  all 
whom  they  found  celebrating  this  Festival. 

..         Second,  The  Festival  of  Isis,   at  Busiris. — At 
Festival  of  Isis.  _      .  .  . 

the  Festival  ot  Uusins,  which  was  celebrated  in 


honour  of  Isis,  the  sacrifices  were  followed  with  the  ceremony  of 
a  flagellation,  from  which  neither  men  nor  women  were  exempt- 
ed; but  the  Carians,  especially,  who  inhabited  Egypt,  were  the 
persons  who  drubbed  themselves  most  heartily,  and  they  added 
even  to  this  ceremony,  that  of  stabbing  themselves  in  {.lie  fore- 
head with  the  point  of  a  sword. 

'         Third.    The    Festival  of'  Diana,  at  Bubastis. 
Festival  of  Diana. 
-  — The  Festival  of  Bubastis  in  lower  Egypt  was 

still  more  solemn.  Thither  they  came  from  all  parts,  and  the 
Nile  for  several  days  was  overspread  with  barges,  which  they  who 
filled  them  had  decked  with  all  the  ornaments  they  could  devise, 
and  as  every  barge  had  its  musicians  and  concert,  the  air  resound- 
ed on  all  hands  with  the  harmony  of  their  instruments.  The 
banks  of  the  river  were  crowded  on  either  side  with  spectators  to 
see  those  barges  as  they  passed:  those  who  were  in  them,  accord- 
ing to  a  very  ancient  custom,  lashed  the  spectators  with  satirical 
jests,  and  frequently  with  scurrilous  ribaldry;  while  the  others  in 
their  turn  paid  home  their  compliments  with  large  interest.  The 
2  P 


302  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    FESTIVALS.  SKC.  VI. 

women  who  were  upon  the  water,  presented  themselves  to  those 
curious  eyes,  in  a  manner  too  immodest  to  be  here  described. 
Care  was  taken  to  prepare  upon  the  banks  of  the  river  numbers 
of  inns,  where  they  came  to  refresh  themselves,  and  there  great 
plenty  was  to  be  had  of  every  thing  conducive  to  good  cheer.  The 
number  of  spectators  at  this  Festival  was  computed  to  be  700,000j 
without  including  children,  who  accompanied  their  parents.  When 
they  arrived  at  Bubastis,  they  abandoned  themselves  entirely  to 
mirth  and  revelling;  and  more  wine  was  consumed  in  that  city 
during  the  stay  they  made  there  upon  account  of  this  solemnity, 
than  through  the  whole  year  besides. — As  nothing  is  more  diffi- 
cult to  be  abolished  than  ceremonies  where  rioting  is  intermixed, 
this  Festival  lasts  at  this  very  day,  though  the  object  thereof  be 
changed;  and  every  year  the  Egyptians,  together  with  the  Turks 
who  govern  them,  fall  down  the  Nile  at  a  certain  time  of  the  year, 
from  Cairo  as  far  as  Rosetto,  with  such  a  vast  confluence  of  peo- 
ple, that  the  river  resembles  a  floating  city.  The  musical  instru- 
ments; the  inns;  and  the  scurrilous  gibes  that  pass  between  those 
that  are  on  the  water,  and  the  spectators  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile; 
all  bear  a  resemblance  there  to  the  ancient  Festivals  of  Bubastis. 
But  nothing  was  ever  so  pompousand  magnificent  as  the  solemn 
procession  made  by  Ptolemy's  orders,  whereof  we  have  the  de- 
scription in  THEOCRITUS,  and  in  ATHENJEUS,  who  has  taken  it 
from  an  ancient  author. 

v         Fourth,  The  Festival  of  Minerva  at  Sais — 
of  Minerva6811™1    What  distinguished  the  Festival  of  Miverva  at 
1  Sais,  from  the  foregoing,  was  the  great  number 

of  lamps  they  burnt  there  during  the  night;  and  those  who  could 
not  be  present  at  this  Festival,  kept  them  burning  in  their  own 
houses. 

'•'  Fifth,  The  Festival  of  Mars  at  Pampremis. — 

The    Festival     „,.       ~      .     .      .  .   .  .  .  .         T, 

of  Mars.  The  Festival  which  was  celebrated  at  Pampre- 

mis in  honour  of  Mars,  was  attended  with  a  re- 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.  503 

SEC.   VI.  OF    FESTIVALS. 

markable  singularity.  The  priesis  bore  upon  a  four-wheeled  cha- 
riot the  statue  of  that  God,  which  was  inclosed  in  a  small  chapel 
of  gilt  wood,  which  they  endeavoured  to  force  into  the  temple  of 
that  DiVinity,  while  men  armed  with  clubs  stood  in  the  way  to 
hinder  them;  and  as  tne  priests  who  accompanied  the  procession, 
had  likewise  arms,  there  ensued  an  engagement,  whereby  many 
people  must  have  lost  their  lives.  The  Egyptians,  however, 
maintained  that  nobody  died  of  the  wounds  they  received  upon 
that  occasion. 

-  That  people  had  besides,  several  sorts  of  pro- 

cessi°ns>   DUt  less  solemn   than   those  which  I 


sions,      imitated     have  been  describing.  —  The  Hebrews,  who  de- 

by  the  Jews,  &c. 

=^==^=    rived  from  the   Egyptians  that  fatal  propensity 

which  they  had  towards  Idolatry,  imitated  them  but  too  often, 
not  only  in  the  solemnity  of  the  golden  calf,  as  has  been  said,  but 
also  in  the  ceremony  of  their  processions.  The  prophet  AMOS 
upbraids  them  for  having  led  about  in  the  wilderness,  the  taber- 
nacle of  the  God  Moloch,  the  image  of  their  Idol,  and  the  star  of 
the  God  Remjiham.  St.  STEPHEN,  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
taxes  them  with  the  same  piece  of  idolatry.  —  Several  other  peo- 
ple practised  the  same  ceremonies,  whether  they  had  learned  them 
from  the  Egyptians,  as  is  very  probable,  or  had  invented  them 
themselves. 

2rf,  Grecian  Festivals* 

The  Greeks  borrowed  several  of  their  Festi- 
vals  from   the   Egyptians  and  Phenicians:  they 
nacl  likewise  many  peculiar  to  themselves.    We 
shall  here  give  an  alphabetical  calendar  of  the 
principal  of  them. 

-  The  Achilla  were  festivals  celebrated  in  ho- 
The  Achillsa. 

-  nour  of  Achilles.    PAUSANIAS,  who  tells  us  they 

were  celebrated  at  Brasias,  where  that  hero  had  a  temple,  gives 
us  no  particular  account  of  them. 


304  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 


OF    FESTIVALS. 


•  •  The  Actia  were  festivals  sacred  to  Apollo^  in 

The  .Actia. 

.     commemoration  of  the  victory  of  Augustus  over 

M.  Antony  at  Actium.  They  were  celebrated  every  third  year, 
with  great  pomp;  and  the  Lacedaemonians  had  the  care  of  them. 

======        The  Adonia  were  festivals  in  honour  of  Ado- 

Tlie  Adonia. 
.  nis,   first   celebrated   at    Byblos    in    Phoenicia. 

They  lasted  two  days;  theirs?  of  which  was  spent  in  how  lings 
and  lamentations;  the  second  in  joyful  clamours,  as  if  Adonis  was 
returned  to  life;  In  some  towns  of  Greece  and  Egypt  they  lasted 
eight  days;  the  one  half  of  which  was  spent  in  lamentations,  and 
the  other  in  rejoicings.  Only  women  were  admitted,  and  such  as 
did  not  appear  were  compelled  to  prostitute  themselves  for  one 
day;  and  the  money  obtained  by  this  shameful  custom  was  devo- 
ted to  the  service  of  Adonis.  The  time  of  the  celebration  was 
supposed  to  be  very  unlucky.  The  fleet  of  Nicias  sailed  from 
Athens  to  Sicily  on  that  day,  whence  many  unfortunate  omens 
were  drawn. 

======         In   the  JEmaturia,   celebrated    in    honour  of 

Tin-  jEm;ituria.  .  . 

.    Pelofis.  What  was  remarkable  in  this  festival  is, 

that  boys  whipped  themselves  till  the  blood  came  from  their  la- 
cerated bodies. 

•  The  Agraulia   was   a   festival    at  Athens,  in 
The  Agraulia.    . 

=s========    honour  of  Agraitlos  priestess  of  Minerva.     The 

Cyprians  also  observed  these  festivals,  by  offering  human  victims. 

.  The   Agrionia   are   thus   described  by  PLU- 

The  Agnonia. 
=555==^=^^    TARCH.  There,  says  he,  the  women  make  search 

for  Bacchus,  and  not  finding  him,  they  give  over  their  pursuit, 
saying,  he  is  retired  to  the  Muses;  then  they  sup  together,  and 
after  supper  they  propose  riddles  to  one  another:  a  mystery,  sig- 
nifying that  mirth,  and  good  cheer,  should  always  be  seasoned  with 
learning  and  the  Muses;  and  that  if  a  man  happens  to  have  drunk 
too  much,  his  rage  is  hid  by  the  Muses,  and  by  them  kindly  re- 
strained and  kept  within  bounds. 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  305 


OF    FESTIVALS. 


=====         The  Agrotera  is  an  anniversary  sacrifice  of 
The  Agrotera. 

.     goats  ottered  to  Diana  at  Athens.     It  was  insti- 


tuted by  Callimachus,  who  vowed  to  sacrifice  to  the  Goddess  so 
many  goats  as  there  might  be  enemies  killed  in  a  battle  which 
he  was  going  to  engage  against  the  troops  of  Darius,  who  had 
invaded  Attica.  The  quantity  of  the  slain  was  so  great,  that  a 
sufficient  number  of  goats  could  not  be  procured;  therefore  they 
were  limited  to  500  every  year,  till  they  equalled  the  number  of 
Persians  slain  in  battle. 

=====         The  Aloa  were   festivals  of  the  barn-floors  at 

The  Aloa. 
-  Athens  in  honor  of  Bacchus  and  Ceres,  by  whose 

beneficence  the  husbandmen  received  the  recompense  of  their 
labours.  The  oblations  were  the  first  fruits  of  the  earth. 

1  The  Ambrosia  were  festivals  celebrated  in  time 

The  Ambrosia. 
=======    of  the   vintage,  in  honour  of.  Bacchus,  in  some 


cities  in  Greece.  They  were  tiie  same  as  the  Brumalia  of  the 
Romans. 

=====         The  Amphidroniia  was  a  festival  observed  by 

Amphidi'omia. 
===========    private  families  at  Athens,  the  first  day  aiter  the 

birth  of  every  child.  It  was  customary  to  run  round  the  fire  with 
a  child  in  their  arms;  whence  the  name  of  the  festival  was  de- 
rived. 

.  The  Anthesjihoria.  were  festivals  celebrated  in 

Anthesphoria. 
=_________     Sicily,  in  honour  of  Proserpine,  in  consequence 

of  her  being  carried  away  by  Pluto  as  she  was  gathering  flowers. 

•  The  Anthesteria  was  so  termed  from  the  month 

Anthesteria. 

Anthesterion,  partly  answering  to  our  November. 

It  had  this  peculiarity,  that  the  masters  served  their  slaves  at  ta- 
ble, during  the  three  days  of  that  festival,  which  the  Romans 
imitated  in  their  Saturnalia.  ,  At  the  end  of  the  festival,  they 
turned  those  slaves  out  of  doors,  and  as  they  were  almost  all  of 
Caria,  hence  came  the  proverb;  begone  ye  Carians,  the  Anthesteria 
nre  ended* 


306  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 


OF    FESTIVALS. 


•"  The  Afiaturia,  a   festival   of  the   Athenians, 

The  Apaturia. 

11          so  called  from  a  word  that  signifies  deceit,  owed 

its  institution  to  the  following  piece  of  history.  The  Boeotians 
having  declared  war  against  the  Athenians,  upon  occasion  of  a 
contest  between  them  about  the  territory  of  Celaenae  or  Onoe, 
•which  they  both  claimed,  Xanthus, captain  of  the  Boeotians,  offer- 
ed to  decide  the  quarrel  in  a  duel.  Thymaetes,  king  of  Athens, 
having  declined  the  challenge,  was  deposed,  and  Melanthius,  who 
accepted  it  was  put  in  his  place.  He,  seeing  his  enemy  coming 
up,  told  him  it  was  not  like  a  brave  man  to  bring  a  second  with 
him  to  the  duel.  Xanthus  turned  about  to  see  if  any  one  follow- 
ed him,  and  in  the  meantime,  Melanthius  thrust  him  through. 
This  festival  lasted  three  days:  on  theirs/  they  kept  a  feast;  they 
sacrificed  on  the  second,  and  on  the  third  they  inrolled  the  youths 
that  were  to  be  admitted. 

•  The  Afihrodisia,  were  celebrated  in  honour  of 

The  Aphrodisia. 

====     Venus,  at  Cyprus,  and  in  several  other  places. 

Here,  they  who  would  be  initiated,  gave  a  piece  of  money  to 
Venus,  as  to  a  prostitute,  and  received  from  her  some  salt  and  a 
fihallua,  presents  worthy  of  the  Goddess. 

.  The  Afiollonia  were  instituted  to  Afiollo  and 

The  Apolloma. 

•  Diana  by  the  people  of  ^Egialea,  on  this  occa- 
sion. Afiollo,  after  the  defeat  of  Python,  repaired  to  /Egialea  with 
his  sister  Diana:  but  being  driven  thence,  he  was  obliged  to  seek 
a  retreat  in  Crete.  In  the  mean  time,  the  plague  raging  in  the 
city  which  this  God  had  left,  the  ^Egialeans  came  to  consult  the 
oracle,  and  were  told  that  they  must  depute  seven  young  men, 
and  as  many  young  virgins,  to  go  in  search  tf  Apollo  and  Diana, 
and  bring  them  back  to  their  city.  This  deputation  pleased  the 
offended  Deities,  and  they  returned  to  ^Egialea,  where  the  peo- 
ple dedicated  a  temple  to  Pytho,  the  Goddess  of  persuasion;  and 
in  commemoration  of  this  event,  they  sent  out  yearly  the  same 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  307 

SEC.  VI.  OF    FESTIVALS. 

number  of  youths  of  both  sexes,  as  it  were  to  go  in  quest  oiAfiollo 
and  Diana. 

'         The  Artemisia,  festivals  of  Diana,  were  cele- 
The  Artemisia. 

:    brated  in  several   parts  of  Greece,  particularly 

at  Delfihos,  where  they  offered  to  the  Goddess,  a  fish  called  the 
inullett,  which,  as  was  supposed,  bore  some  affinity  to  the  God- 
dess of  hunting,  because  it  is  said  to  hunt  and  kill  other  fish. 
There  was  a  solemnity  of  the  same  name  at  Syracuse;  it  lasted 
three  days,  which  were  spent  in  banqueting  and  diversions. 

=====         The  Asccilia  was  a  festival  in  honour  of  Bac- 
The  Ascolia. 

•  chus,  celebrated  about  December,  by  the  Athe- 
nian husbandmen,  who  generally  sacrificed  a  goat  to  the  God, 
because  that  animal  is  a  great  enemy  to  the  vine.     They  made  a 
bottle  with  the  skin  of  the  victim,  which  they  filled  with  oil  and 
wine,  and  afterwards  leaped  upon  it.  He  who  could  stand  upon  it 
first  was  victorious,  and  received  the  bottle  as  a  reward.     Tiiis 
was  called  leaping  upon  the  bottle,  whence  the  name  of  the  festi- 
val is  derived.     It  was  also  introduced  in  Italy,  where  the  people 
besmeared  their  faces  with  the  dregs  of  wine,  and  sang  hymns  to 
the  God.     They  always  hanged  some  small  images  of  the  God 
on  the  tallest  trees  in  their  vineyards,  and  these  images  they  call- 
ed Os  cilia. 

-  The  Athcnga  were  festivals  in  honour  of  Mi- 
The  Athenxa. 

ss^^^s^ss^ss    ntr-va  the  patroness  of  the   Athenians.     They 

were  instituted  by  Erichtheus  or  Orpheus;  but  Theseus  afterwards 
renewed  them,  and  caused  them  to  be  celebrated  and  observed  by 
all  the  Tribes  of  Athens,  which  he  had  united  into  one,  and  for 
which  reason  these  festivals  received  the  name  of  Panathenxa. 
In  the  first  years  of  the  institution,  they  were  observed  only  du- 
ring one  day,  but  afterwards  the  time  was  prolonged,  and  the  ce- 
lebration was  attended  with  greater  pomp  and  solemnity.  The 
festivals  were  two;  the  Panathen&a,  which  was  observed  every 
5th  year,  and  the  lesser  Panalhen<sa,  which  were  kept  every  3d 


308  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    FESTIVALS.  SEC.   VI. 

year,  or  annually. — In  the  lessrr  festival*  there  were  three  games 
conducted  by  ten  presidents  chosen  from  the  ten  tribes  of  Athens, 
who  continued  four  years  in  office.  On  the  evening  of  the  first 
day  there  was  a  race  with  torches,  in  which  men  on  foot,  and 
afterwards  on  horseback,  contended.  The  second  combat  was 
gymnical,  and  exhibited  a  trial  of  bodily  strength -and  dexterity. 
The  last  was  a  musical  contention,  first  instituted  by  Pericles. 
The  poets  contended  in  four  plays,  the  last  of  which  was  a  satire. 
There  was  also  at  Sunium  an  imitation  of  a  naval  fight.  Who- 
ever obtained  the  victory  in  any  of  these  games  was  rewarded 
with  a  vessel  of  oil,  which  he  was  permitted  to  dispose  of  in  what- 
ever manner  he  pleased,  and  it  was  unlawful  for  any  other  per- 
son to  transport  that  commodity.  Tiie  conqueror  also  received 
a  crown  of  the  olives  which  gresv  in  the  groves  of  Academus, 
and  were  sacred  to  Minerva,  who  thus  expressed  her  triumph 
over  the  vanquished  Titans.  Gladiators  were  also  introduced 
when  Athens  became  tributary  to  the  Romans.  During  the  cele- 
bration no  person  was  permitted  to  appear  in  d\  ed  garments,  and 
if  any  one  transgressed  he  was  punished  according  to  the  discre- 
tion of  the  president  of  the  games.  After  these  things,  a  sump- 
tuous sacrifice  was  offered,  in  which  every  one  of  the  Athenian 
boroughs  contributed  an  ox;  and  the  whole  was  concluded  by  an 
entertainment  for  all  the  company  with  the  flesh  that  remained 
from  the  sacrifice. — In  the  greater  festivals,  the  same  rites  and 
ceremonies  were  usually  observed,  but  with  more  solemnity  and 
magnificence.  Others  were  also  added,  particularly  the  proces- 
sion, in  which  Minerva's  sacred  garment  was  carried.  This  gar- 
ment was  woven  by  a  select  number  of  virgins.  They  were  su- 
perintended by  t\ro  young  virgins,  not  above  seventeen  years  of 
age  nor  under  eleven,  whose  garments  were  white  and  set  off 
with  ornaments  of  gold.  Minerva's  garment  or  pefilus  was  of  a 
white  colour  without  sleeves,  and  embroidered  with  gold.  Upon 
it  were  described  the  achievements  of  the  Goddess,  particularly 


CHAP.  HI.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  309 


OF    FESTIVALS. 


her  victories  over  the  giants.     The  exploits  of  Jufiiter  and  ihe 
other  Gods  were  also  represented  there,  and  from  that  circum- 
stance men  of  courage  and  bravery  are  said  to  be  worthy  to  be 
portrayed  in  Minerva's  sacred  garment.  In  the  procession  of  the 
jiefilus)  the  following  ceremonies  were  observed.    In  the  Cerami- 
cs, without  the  city,  there  was  an  engine  built  in  the  form  of  a 
ship,  upon  which  Minerva's  garment  was  hung  as  a  sail,  and  the 
whole  was  conducted,  not  by  beasts,  as  some  have  supposed,  but 
by  subterraneous  machines,  to  the  temple  of  Ceres  Eleusinia,  and 
from  thence  to  the  citadel,  where  the  fiefilus  was  placed  upon 
Minerva's  statue,  which  was  laid  upon  a  bed  woven  or  strewed 
with  flowers.     Persons  of  all  ages,  of  every  sex  and  quality,  at- 
tended the  procession,  which  was  led  by  old  men  and  women 
.carrying  olive  branches  in  their  hands,  from  which   reason  they 
were  called  bearers  of  green  bows.  Next  followed  men  in  the  prime 
of  life  with  shields  and  sfiears.     These  were  succeeded  by  for- 
eigners who  carried  small  boats  as  a  token  of  their  foreign  origin, 
and  on  that  account  were  called  boat  bearers.     After  these  came 
the  women  attended  by  the  wives  of  the  foreigners,  who  carried 
ivater-fiots.    Next  to  these  were  young  men  crowned  with  millet, 
and  singing  hymns  to  the  Gods.     After  them  followed  select  vir- 
gins of  the  noblest  families,  called  basket  bearers,  because  they 
carried  baskets,  containing  the  things  necessary  for  the  celebra- 
tion, distributed  among  them  by  the  chief  manager  of  the  festi- 
val.    These  were  succeeded  by  the  daughters  of  foreigners,  who 
carried  little  seats,  from  which  they  were  called  scat  carriers. 
Finally,  the  boys  lead  the  rear. — The  necessaries  for  this  and 
every  other  festival  was  prepared  in  a  public  ball  erected  for  that 
purpose,  between  the  Pirxan  gate  and  the  temple  of  Ceres.  The 
management  and  the  care  of  the  whole  was  entrusted  to  people 
employed  in  seeing  the  rites  and  ceremonies  properly  observed. 
It  was  also  used  to  set  all  prisoners  at  liberty,  and  to  present 
20 


310  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  Ill 


Off     FESTIVALS. 


golden  crowns  to  such  as  had  deserved  well  of  their  country. 
Some  persons  were  also  chosen  to  sing  some  of  HOMER'S  poems, 
a  custom  which  was  first  introduced  by  Hipfiarchus  the  son  of 
Pisistratua.  It  was  also  customary  in  this  festival,  and  every 
other  quinquennial  festival,  to  pray  for  the  prosperity  of  the  Pla- 
tieans,  whose  services  had  been  so  conspicuous  at  the  battle  of 
Marathon. 

The  Boedromia  was  a  festival  at  Athens,  du- 
^.^   ^  ^   ^^  ^.^  ^   ^ 

their  might;  took  their  name  from  Boe,  a  cry,  and  Dromos,  run- 
ning. They  were  celebrated  in  the  month  of  August;  whence 
the  Athenian  month  answering  to  it,  was  named  Boedromion. 
This  festival,  according  to  PLUTARCH,  was  instituted  when  the 
Amazons  gained  possession  of  Athens. 

The   Boreasmi   were   festivals  celebrated  at 
^^  ^  wind  ^^ 

The  Brauronia  were  festivals  of  Diana  at 
The  Brauronia.  Brauronj  &  town  of  Auica>  which  were  celebra- 
ted once  every  nth  year.  They  sacrificed  a  goat  to  the  Goddess, 
and  it  was  usual  to  sing  one  of  the  books  of  HOMEK'S  Iliad.  The 
most  remarkable  that  attended  were  young  virgins  in  yellow 
gowns,  consecrated  to  Diana.  They  were  about  ten  years  of 
age,  and  not  under  five— There  was  a  bear  in  one  of  the  villa- 
ges of  Attica,  so  tame  that  he  ate  with  the  inhabitants,  and  play- 
ed harmlessly  with  them.  This  familiarity  lasted  long,  till  a ' 
young  virgin  treated  the  animal  too  roughly,  and  was  killed  by  it. 
The  virgin's  brother  killed  the  bear,  and  the  country  was  soon 
after  visited  by  a  pestilence.  The  Oracle  was  consulted,  and  the 
plague  removed  by  consecrating  virgins  to  the  service  of  Diana. 
This  was  so  faithfully  observed,  that  no  woman  in  Athens  was 
married,  without  this  ceremony. 

-The  Cabiria  were  festivals  celebrated  with  the 
greatest   solemnity    at  Samothrace,    where  alii 


CHAP.  HI.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  SU 


OF    FESTIVALS. 


the  ancient  heroes  and  princes  were  generally  initiated  as 
their  power  seemed  to  be  great  in  protecting  persons  from 
shipwreck  and  slorms.  The  obscenities  which  prevailed  in  the 
celebration  have  obliged  the  authors  of  every  country  to  pass  over 
them  in  silence,  and  say  that  it  was  unlawful  to  reveal  them. 
=====  The  CaUisteria  was  a  festival  at  Lesbos,  during 
The  Calhatem.  ^.^  wQmen  contcnded  for  the  prize  of  beauty, 
in  the  temple  of  Juno,  and  the  fairest  was  rewarded. in  a  public 
manner.  There  was  also  an  institution  of  the  same  kind  among 
the  Pavrhasians,  first  made  by  Cypselus,  whose  wife  was  honour- 
ed with  the  first  prize.  The  Eleans  had  one  also,  in  which  the 
fairest  man  received,  as  a  prize,  a  complete  suit  of  armour,  which 
he  dedicated  to  Minerva. 

_  _  The  Cane/ihoria  were  festivals  celebrated  at 

The  Canephona.     Athers  in  honour  of  Bacchus,  or,  according  to 

others,  of  Diana,  in  which  all  marriageable  women  offered  small 
baskets  to  the  Deity,  and  received  the  name  of  C'aneflhorx,  whence 
statues  representing  women  in  that  attitude  were  called  by  the 
same  appellation. 

__  The  Carnda  was  a  festival  observed  in  most 

The  Carneia.       ^  ^    Grecian  citieS)  but  more  particularly  at 

Sparta,  where  it  was  first  instituted,  about  675  years  B.  C.  in 
honour  of  Jflallo  surnamed  Carncus.  It  lasted  nine  days,  and  was 
an  imitation  of  the  manner  of  living  in  camps  among  the  ancients. 
======         The  Charila  was  a  festival  observed  once  in 

The  Charila.         ^  ^^  fay  ^  De,phians.      It  owes  its  origin 

to  this  circumstance:  in  a  great  famine  the  people  of  Delphos 
assembled  and  applied  to  their  king  to  relieve  their  wants.  He 
accordingly  distributed  the  little  corn  he  had  among  the  noblest; 
but  as  a  poor  little  girl,  called  Charila,  begged  the  king  with  more 
than  common  earnestness,  he  beat  her  with  his  shoe,  and  the 
girl,  unable  to  bear  his  treatment,  hanged  herself  with  her  girdle. 
The  famine  increased;  and  the  Oracle  told  the  king,  that  to  re- 


312  M  PERSTITIOXS  OF    llXiLATIU.  CHAP.  Hi. 

OF    FESTIVALS.  SEC,  VI- 

lieve  his  people,  he  must  atone  fo.r  the  murder  of  Charila.  Upon 
this  a  festival  was  instituted,  with  expiatory  rites.  The  king  pre- 
sided over  this  institution,  and  distributed  pulse  and  corn  to  such 
as  attended.  Charila's  image  was  brought  before  the  king,  who 
struck  it  with  his  shoe;  after  which  it  was  carried  to  a  desolate 
place,  where  they  put  a  halter  round  its  neck,  and  buried  it  where 
Charila  was  buried. 

•  The  Charisia  was  a  festival  in  honour  of  the 

Graces,  with  dances  which  continued  all  night. 


He  who  continued  awake  the  longest,  was  rewarded  with  a  cake. 

"         The  Chelidonia  was  a  festival  at  Rhodes,  in 
The  Chelidonia. 
====;     which  it  was  customary  for  boys  to  go  begging 

from  door  to  door,  and  singing  certain  songs,  Sec. 

•  •"  The  Cissotomia  was  a  festival,  so  called,  from 
The  Cissotomia.  .  ,  ,  .  .  ,  ,. 

========s    the  ivy  they  wore  at  its  celebration,  in  honour  ot 

Hebe  the  Goddess  of  youth. 

The  Cronia  was  a  festival  at  Athens,  in  honour 
adians  observed  the  same 
festival,  and  generally  sacrificed  to  the  God  a  condemned  male- 
factor. 

=======         The  Cynofihontis  was  a  festival  celebrated  at 

The  Cynophontis.  . 

===j^===s=     Argos,  on  the  dog-clays,  during  which  they  slew 

all  the  dogs;  whence  this  solemnity  had  its  name. 
.  The  Dtedala  were  two  festivalsin  Boeotia.  The 

'  lesser  of  these  was  observed  by  the  Plataeans,  in 
a  large  grove,  where  they  exposed,  in  the  open  air,  pieces  of 
boiled  flesh,  and  carefully  observed  whither  the  crows  that  came 
to  prey  upon  them,  directed  their  flight.  All  the  trees  upon 
which  any  of  these  birds  alighted,  were  immediately  cut  down 
and  with  them  statues  were  made,  called  JDxdala,  in  honour  of 
Dedalus. — The  greater  festival  was  of  a  more  solemn  kind.  It  was 
celebrated  every  sixty  days,  by  all  the  cities  of  Boeotia,  as  a  com- 
pensation for  the  intermission  of  the  lesser  festivals,  during  the 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  313 


OF    FESTIVALS. 


sixty  years  exile  of  the  Plataeans,  and  in  commemoration  of  that 
exile.  Fourteen  of  the  statues,  called  Dxdala^  were  distributed 
by  lot  among  the  Plataeans,  Lebadaeans,  Orchomenians,  Thes- 
pi  tns,  Thebans,  Tanagraeans,  and  Chaeroneans,  because  they  had 
effected  a  reconciliation,  and  caused  the  Plataeans  to  be  re-called 
from  exile,  about  the  time  that  Thebes  was  restored  by  Cassan- 
der,  the  son  of  Antipater. 
„.  ,  ...  The  Daidis  was  a  solemnity  observed  amon? 

The    Uaidis.  & 

-  the  Greeks.  It  lasted  three  days.  Theirs!  was 
in  commemoration  of  Latona's  labour.  The  second  in  memory  of 
Apollo's  birth,  and  the  third  in  honour  of  Podalirius,  and  of  the 
mother  of  Alexander.  Torches  were  always  carried  at  the  cele- 
bration; \vhencethe  name. 

Uu  lime  ho^T        The  Datlhnel:horia  was  a  Festival  in  honour 
of  Apollo,  celebrated   every  ninth  year  by  the 


Boeotians.  It  was  then  usual  to  adorn  an  olive  bough  with  gar- 
lands  of  laurel  and  other  flowers,  and  place  on  the  top  a  brazen 
globe,  on  which  were  suspended  smaller  ones.  In  the  middle  was 
placed  a  number  of  crowns,  and  a  globe  of  inferior  size,  and  the 
bottom  was  adorned  with  a  saffron  coloured  garment.  The  globe 
on  the  top  represented  the  sun  or  Aiiolln;  that  in  the  middle  was 
an  emblem  of  the  moon,  and  the  others  of  the  stars.  The  crowns 
represented  the  days  of  the  years.  This  bough  was  carried  in 
fiont  of  a  solemn  procession  by  a  beautiful  youth  of  an  illustrious 
family. 

The  Delia   was  a  festival   celebrated    every 
fifth  year  in  the  island  of  Delos,  in  honour  of 


.  It  was  first  instituted  by  Theseus,  who,  at  his  return  from 
Crete,  placed  a  statue  there,  which  he  had  received  from  Ariad- 
ne. At  the  celebration,  theycrov  ned  the  statue  with  garlands, 
appointed  a  choir  of  music,  and  exhibited  horse  races.  They 
afterwards  led  a  dance,  in  which  they  imitated,  by  their  motions, 
the  \aiious  windings  of  the  Cretan  labyrinth,  from  which  Theseus 


314  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    FESTIVALS.  SEC.  VI. 

had  extricated  himself  by  Ariadne's  assistance. — There  was  also 
another  festival  of  the  same  name,  yearly  celebrated  by  the  Athe- 
nians at  Delos.  It  was  also  instituted  by  Theseus,  who,  when  he 
was  going  to  Crete,  made  a  vow,  that  if  he  returned  victorious, 
he  would  yearly  visit,  in  a  solemn  manner,  the  temple  of  Delos. 
The  persons  employed  in  this  annual  procession  were  called 
Deliastte,  and  the  ship  in  which  they  made  the  visit  to  Delos  be- 
ing the  same  which  carried  Theseus  to  Crete,  and  which  had 
been  carefully  preserved  by  the  Athenians,  was  called  Delias. 
When  the  ship  was  ready  for  the  voyage,  the  priest  of  Afiollo 
solemnly  adorned  the  stern  with  garlands,  and  an  universal  lus- 
tration was  made  all  over  the  ciiy.  The  Di-Hastx  were  crowned 
with  laurel, -and  before  them  proceed  men  armed  with  axes,  in 
commemoration  of  Theseus,  who  had  cleared  the  way  from  Trae- 
zene  to  Athens,  and  delivered  the  count iy  fiom  robbers.  When 
the  ship  arrived  at  Delos,  they  offered  solemn  sacrifices  to  the 
God  of  the  island,  and  celebrated  a  festival  in  his  honour.  After 
this  they  retired  to  the  ship,  and  sailed  back  to  Athens,  where 
all  the  people  of  the  city  ran  in  crowds  to  meet  them.  Every 
appearance  of  festivity  prevailed  at  their  approach,  and  the  citi- 
zens opened  their  doors,  and  prostrated  themselves  before  the 
Deliasta:,  as  they  walked  in  procession.  During  this  festival  it 
was  unlawful  to  put  to  death  any  malefactor,  and  on  that  account 
the  life  of  Socrates  was  prolonged  for  thirty  days. 

'  The    Demetria    was  a  festival  in    honour    of 

The  Demetria. 
-•  Ceres,  called  by   the  Greeks   Dtmeter.     It  was 

then  customary  for  the  votaries  of  the  Goddess  to  lash  themselves 
with  whips  made  with  the  bark  of  trees.  The  Athenians  had  a 
solemnity  of  the  same  name,  in  honour  of  Demetrius  Polior- 
certes. 

,..          .      .  The  Diamastigosis  was  a  festival  at  Sparta  in 

Diamastigosis. 

'v.  '—- — ;    honour  of  Diana,  in  which  boys  of  the  first  re- 

spectability were  whipped  before  the  altar  of  the  Goddess.    This 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  315 

SEC.   VI.  OF    FESTIVALS. 

operation  was  performed  by  an  officer  in  a  severe  and  unfeeling 
manner;  and  that  no  compassion  should  be  raised,  the  priest  stood 
near  the  altar  with  a  small  light  statue  of  the  Goddess,  which 
suddenly  became  heavy  and  insupportable  if  the  lash  of  the  whip 
was  lenient  or  less  rigorous.  The  parents  of  the  children  attended 
the  solemnity,  and  exhorted  them  not  to  betray  any  thing  either 
by  fear  or  groans,  that  might  be  unworthy  of  their  education. 
These  flagellations  were  so  severe,  that  the  blood  gushed  forth, 
and  many  expired  under  the  lash  of  the  whip  without  uttering  a 
groan,  or  betraying  any  marks  of  fear.  Such  a  death  was  reckon- 
ed very  honourable,  and  the  corpse  was  buried  with  much  solem- 
nity, with  a  garland  of  flowers  on  its  head.  The  origin  of  tins 
festival  is  unknown.  Some  suppose  that  Lycurgus  first  instituted 
it  to  inure  the  youths  of  Lacedemon  to  bear  labour  and  fatigue, 
and  render  them  insensible  to  pain  and  wounds. 

'•  The  Diasia  were  festivals  in   honour  of  Jufii- 

The  Diasia. 
============    ter  at  Athens;  because  by  making  application  to 

Ju/iitert  men  obtained  relief  from  their  misfortunes,  and  were 
delivered  from  dangers.  During  this  festival  things  of  all  kinds 
were  exposed  to  sale. 

•'         The  Dionysia  were  festivals  in  honour  of  Bac- 
The  Dionysia. 

•  chim  among  the  Gieeks.  Their  form  and  solem- 

nity were  first  introduced  into  Greece  from  Egypt,  by  a  certain 
Melampus,  and  are  the  same  as  the  festivals  celebrated  by  the 
Egyptians  in  honour  of  Isis.  They  were  observed  at  Athens  with 
more  splendour  and  ceremonious  superstition  than  in  any  other 
part  of  Greece.  The  years  were  numbered  by  their  celebration, 
the  Archon  assisted  at  the  solemnity,  and  the  priests  that  officiated 
were  honoured  with  the  most  dignified  seats  at  the  public  Games. 
At  first  they  were  celebrated  with  great  simplicity.  The  wor- 
shippers imitated  in  their  dress  and  actions  the  poetical  fictions 
concerning  Bacchus.  They  clothed  themselves  in  fawn  skins, 
fine  linen,  and  mitres;  they  carried  thyrsi,  drums,  pipes,  and 


316  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 


OF    FESTIVALS. 


flutes;  and  crowned  themselves  with  garlands  of  ivy,  vine,  fir,  &c. 
Some  imitated  Silenus,  Pan,  and  the  Satyrs,  by  the  uncouth  man- 
ner of  their  dress,  and  their  fantastical  motions.  Some  rode  upon 
asses,  and  others  drove  the  goats  to  slaughter  for  the  sacrifice. 
In  this  manner  both  sexes  joined  in  the  solemnity,  and  ran  about 
the  hills  and  country,  nodding  their  heads,  dancing  in  ridiculous 
postures,  and  filling  the  air  with  hideous  shrieks  and  clamorous 
shoutings. — The  festivals  of  Bacchus  were  innumerable.  All 
were  celebrated  by  the  Greeks  with  great  licentiousness,  and  they 
contributed  much  to  the  corruption  of  morals  among  all  ranks  of 
the  people. 

======         The  Dioscuria  were   festivals  in  honour    of 

The  Dioscuria. 
=^========     Castor  and  Pollux^  who   were   called  Dioscuri. 

They  were  celebrated  by  the  people  of  Corcyra,  and  chiefly  by 
the  Lacedaemonians  with  much  'jovial  festivity. 

•  The  Elafihcbolia  was  a  festival  in  honour  of  Di- 

The  Elaphebolia. 

====^======    ana  the  huntress.      In  the  celebration,  a  cake  was 

made  in  the  form  of  a  deer,  and  offered  to  the  Goddess. 

The  Eleusinia  was  a  great  festival  in  honour  of 

The  Eleusinia. 

Ceres  and  Proserpine,  observed  by   many   cities 


of  Greece,  but  more  particularly  at  Eleusis  in  Attica,  where  it 
was  introduced  by  Eumolpus,  before  Christ  1356.  Of  all  the  re- 
ligious ceremonies  of  Greece,  those  of  this  festival  were  the  most 
celebrated,  whence  they  were  often  called,  by  way  of  emidence, 
the  mysteries.  They  were  sosuperstitiously  concealed,  that  if  any 
one  revealed  them  it  was  supposed  that  he  had  called  divine  ven- 
geance upon  his  head,  for  which  he  was  publicly  punished  with 
an  ignominious  death.  If  any  one  ever  appeared  at  the  celebra- 
tion, either  intentionally,  or  through  ignorance,  without  proper 
introduction,  he  was  immediately  punished  with  death.  Persons 
of  both  sexes  and  all  ages  were  initiated  at  this  solemnity,  and  it 
was  looked  upon  as  so  heinous  a  crime  to  neglect  this  sacred  part 
of  religion,  that  it  was  one  of  the  heaviest  accusations  which  con- 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.  317 

SEC.  VI.  OF   FESTIVALS. 

tributed  to  the  condemnation  of  Socrates.  The  initiated  were 
under  the  more  particular  care  of  the  Deities,  and  therefore  their 
lives  were  supposed  to  be  attended  with  more  happiness  and  real 
security  than  those  of  other  men.  This  benefit  was  not  only  grant- 
ed during  life,  but  it  extended  beyond  the  grave,  and  they  were 
honoured  with  the  first  places  in  the  Elysian  fields.  Particular 
care  vras  taken  in  examining  the  character  of  such  as  were  pre- 
sented for  initiation;  nor  were  any  admitted  but  citizens  of  Athens. 
This  regulation,  which  compelled  Hercules,  Castor  and  Pollux, 
to  become  citizens  of  Athens,  was  strictly  observed  in  the  first 
ages  of  the  institution,  but  afterwards  all  persons,  barbarians  ex- 
cepted,  were  freely  initiated. 

•   •         The  Eleutheria  was  a  festival  celebrated  at 
The  Eleutheria. 

•     Plataea  in  honour  of  Jupiter  Eleutherius,  or  the 

assertor  of  liberty,  by  delegates  from  almost  all  the  cities  of 
Greece.  Its  institution  originated  in  this;  after  the  victory  obtain- 
ed by  the  Grecians  under  Pausanias  over  Mardonius  the  Persian 
general,  in  the  country  of  Plataea,  an  altar  and  statue  were  erected 
to  Jupiter  Eleutheriust  who  had  freed  the  Greeks  from  the  tyran- 
ny of  the  barbarians.  It  was  further  agreed  upon  in  a  general 
assembly,  by  the  advice  of  Aristides  the  Athenian,  that  deputies 
should  be  sent  every  fifth  year  from  the  different  cities  of  Greece 
to  celebrate  the  Eleutheria^  festivals  of  liberty. 

_  The  Enc<ema> — the  day  of  the  dedication  of 

The  Encaenia. 

.  every  temple  was  celebrated  by  a  particular  fes- 

tival, called  the  Enc&nia. 

-  The  Eoria  was  a  festival  at  Athens,  in  honour 

_^^__^_^  of  Erigone,  the  daughter  of  Icarus;  for  the  in- 
stitution of  which,  this  reason  is  given — that  Erigone,  being  driven 
by  extremity  of  grief  for  the'murder  of  her  father,  to  hang  her- 
self, had  prayed  the  Gods,  as  she  was  dying,  that  unless  the 
Athenians  avenged  her  father's  death,  their  daughters  might  all 
2  R 


318  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  HI. 

OF    FESTIVALS.  SEC.  VI. 

perish  in  the  same  manner.  Accordingly  several  of  them  hanged 
themselves;   upon  which  A{iMo  being  consulted,  he  ordered  the 
institution  of  a  festival,  to  appease  the  manes  of  Erigone. 
.  The  Erotidia  was  a  festival  in  honour  of  Cu- 

.  fitd  the  God  of  love.     It  was  celebrated  by  the 

Thespians,  every  fifth  year,  with  sports  and  Games,  when  musi- 
cians, among  others,  contended.  If  any  quarrels,  or  seditions  had 
arisen  among  the  people,  it  was  then  usual  to  offer  sacrifices  and 
prayers  to  the  God,  that  he  would  totally  remove  them. 

.  The  Eumenidia  were  festivals  in  honour  of  the 

The  Eumenidia. 

:  Eumenidcs  or  Furies.  They  were  celebrated  an- 
nually, with  sacrifices  of  pregnant  ewes,  with  offerings  of  cakes 
made  by  the  most  eminent  youths,  and  libations  of  honey  and 
vine.  At  Athens  none  but  free-born  citizens  were  admitted,  who 
had  led  the  most  virtuous  life,  as  others  were  not  acceptable  to 
the  Goddesses  whose  care  it  was  to  punish  all  sorts  of  wicked- 
ness in  an  exemplary  manner. 

•  The   Gamelia,  adopted   from    a   surname  of 

The  Gamelia. 

-  JunO)  was  a  private  festival  observed  at  three  pe- 
riods of  one's  life.   The  first  was  in  commemoration  of  a  birth- 
day; the  second  was  the  celebration  of  a  marriage;  and  the  third 
was  an  anniversary  of  the  death  of  a  person.     The  second  gene- 
rally took  place  about  the  first  of  January,  wherefore  marriages 
on  that  day  were  considered  as  good  omens. 

-  •    •  The  Hccatesia  was  a  yearly  festival  observed 
The  Hecatesia. 

.  .....  by  the  Stratomcensians  in  honour  of  Hecate.  The 

Athenians  paid  also  particular  worship  to  this  Goddess,  who  was 
deemed  the  patroness  of  families  and  of  children.  From  this 
circumstance  the  statues  of  the  Goddess  were  erected  before  the 
doors  of  the  houses,  and  upon  every  new  moon  a  public  supper 
was  always  provided  at  the  expense  of  the  richest  people,  and  set 
in  the  streets,  where  the  poorest  of  the  citizens  were  permitted 
to  feast  upon  it,  while  they  reported  that  Hecate  had  devoured  it. 


•  'HAl'.  III.  -il'KHsTJTION.S  OF  IDOLATRY.  319 

SEC.  VI.  OF    FESTIVALS. 

There  were  also  expiatory  offerings  to  supplicate  the  Goddess 
to  remove  whatever  evils  might  impend  on  the  head  of  the  pub- 
lic, 8cc. 

r  The  Hecatomboia  or  Her&a  were  Festivals  at 

Hecatomboia. 

-  Argos  in  honour  of  Juno,  who  was  the  patroness 

of  that  city.  They  were  also  celebrated  by  colonies  of  the  Arrives 
which  had  been  planted  at  Samos  and  ^Egina.  There  were  always 
two  processions  to  the  temple  of  the  Goddess  without  the  city 
walls.  The  first  was  of  the  men  in  armour;  the  second  of  the  wo- 
men, among  whom  the  priestess,  a  woman  of  the  first  quality,  was 
drawn  in  a  chariot  by  white  oxen.  The  Argives  always  reckoned 
their  years  from  her  priesthood,  as  the  Athenians  did  from  their 
archons,  or  as  the  Romans  did  from  their  consuls.  When  they  came 
to  the  temple  of  the  Goddess  they  offered  a  hecatomb  of  oxen,— 
There  was  a  Festival  of  the  same  name  in  Elis,  celebrated  every 
fifth  year,  in  which  sixteen  matrons  wove  a  garment  for  the  God- 
dess.—-There  were  also  others  instituted  by  Hippqdromia,  who  had 
received  assistance  from  Juno  when  she  married  Pelops.  Sixteen 
matrons,  each  attended  by  a  maid,  presided  at  the  celebration.  The 
contenders  were  young  virgins,  who  being  divided  in  classes,  ac- 
cording to  their  age",  ran  races  each  in  their  order,  beginning  with 
the  youngest.  The  habit  of  all  was  alike,  their  hair  was  dishevel- 
led, and  their  right  shoulder  bare  to  the  breast,  with  coats  reach- 
ing no  lower  than  the  knee.  She  who  obtained  the  victory  was 
rewarded  with  a  crown  of  olive,  and  obtained  a  part  of  the  ox  that 
was  offered  in  sacrifice,  and  was  permitted  to  dedicate  her  picture 
to  the  Goddess.— There  was  also  a  solemn  day  of  mourning  at 
Corinth,  which  bore  the  same  name,  in  commemoration  of  Me- 
dea's children,  who  were  buried  in  Juno's  temple.  They  had 
been  slain  by  the  Corinthian*;  who,  as  it  is  reported,  to  avert  the 
scandal  which  accompanied  so  barbarous  a  murder,  presented 
EURIPIDES  with  a  large  sum  of  money  to  write  a  play,  in  which 
Medea,  herself,  is  represented  as  the  murderer  of  her  children, 


320  SUPERSTITIONS  OP   IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 


OF    FESTIVALS. 


1    '         ' "         The  Hecatomfihonia  was  a  solemn  sacrifice  of- 

Hecatomphonia. 

•  fered  by  the  Messenians  to  Ju/riter,  when  any  of 

them  had  killed  an  hundred  of  the  enemy. 

.  The  Helenia  was  a  festival  in  Laconia,  in  hon- 

'  our  of  Helen,  who  received  there  divine  honours. 
It  was  celebrated  by  virgins  riding  upon  mules,  and  in  chariots 
made  of  reeds  and  bulrushes. 

============:         The  Hefihxstia  was  a  festival   in  honour  of 

The  Hephaestia. 

Vulcan  at  Athens.  There  was  then  a  race  with 


torches  between  three  young  men.  Each  in  his  turn  ran  a  race 
with  a  lighted  torch  in  his  hand,  and  whoever  could  carry  it  to 
the  end  of  the  course  before  it  was  extinguished,  obtained  the 
prize.  They  delivered  it  one  to  the  other  after  they  finished  their 
course,  and  from  that  circumstance  we  see  many  allusions  in  an- 
cient authors,  who  compare  the  vicissitudes  of  human  affairs  to 
this  delivering  of  the  torch. 

The  Heracleia  was  a  festival  at  Athens,  cele- 
brated every  fifth  year  in  honour  of  Hercules.-— 
The  Thisbians  and  Thebans  in  Boeotia,  observed  a  festival  of  the 
same  name,  in  which  they  offered  apples  to  the  God.  This  cus- 
tom of  offering  apples  arose  from  this:  it  was  always  usual  to  of- 
fer sheep,  but  the  overflowing  of  the  river  Asopus  prevented  the 
votaries  of  the  God  from  observing  it  with  the  ancient  ceremony; 
and  as  the  same  word  signified  both  an  apple  and  a  sheep,  some 
youths  acquainted  with  the  ambiguity  of  the  term,  offered  apples 
to  the  God,  with  much  sport  and  festivity.  Hercules  was  delight- 
ed with  the  ingenuity  of  the  youths,  and  the  festival  was  ever 
continued  with  the  offering  of  apples. 

-  The  Herm&a  was  a  festival  in  Crete,  whereof 

The  Hermaea. 

•--    the    principal   ceremony  consisted   in   masters 

waiting  upon  their  servants.  It  was  also  observed  at  Athens  and 
Babylon. 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP   IDOLATRY.  321 


OF    FESTIVALS. 


•    r    -  The   Hortea — The  four  Seasons  of  the  year 

.     •  had  also  their  festivals,  which  were  termed  Ho- 

r<sa,  from  the  Greek  name  of  the  Seasons;  and  in  each  of  these 
festivals  they  kept  a  solemn  entertainment,  upon  the  fruits  of  the 
earth. 

•  The  Hyadnthia  was  an  annual  solemnity  at 
The  Hyacinthia.  .      .  TT 

•  Amycljea,  in  Lacoma.  in  honour  ot  Hyacinthus, 

who  was  killed  by  Afiollo.  Ic  continued  for  three  days,  during 
which  time  the  grief  of  the  people  was  so  great  for  the  death  of 
Hyacinthus,  that  they  did  not  adorn  their  hair  with  garlands  during 
their  festivals,  nor  eat  bread,  but  feed  only  upon  sweetmeats. 
They  did  not  even  sing  fxeans  in  honour  of  Afiollo,  or  observe  any 
of  the  solemnities  which  were  usual  at  other  sacrifices.  On  the 
second  day  of  the  festival  there  were  a  number  of  different  exhi- 
bitions. The  city  began  then  to  be  filled  with  joy,  and  immense 
numbers  of  victims  were  offered  on  the  altars  of  Afiollo,  and  the 
votaries  liberally  entertained  their  friends  and  slaves.  During  this 
latter  part  of  the  festivity,  all  were  eager  to  be  present  at  the 
games,  and  the  city  was  almost  desolated  of  its  inhabitants. 

••  The  Hydrofihoria  was  a  festival  observed  at 

Hydrophoria. 

•  Athens.  It  was  celebrated  in  commemoration  of 

those  who  perished  in  the  deluge  of  Deucalion  and  Ogyges. 

•  The  Leonidea  were  festivals  yearly  celebrated 
The  Leonidea. 

_••    at  Sparta  in   honour   of  Leonidas,  the   hero  of 

Thermopile,  in  which  free-born  youths  contended. 

.'.  The  Lyctea  were  festivals  in   Arcadia,  in  ho- 

=======:==    nour  of  Pun,  the  God  of  shepherds.    They  are 

the  same  as  the  Lufiercalia  of  the  Romans. 

•         The  Lycurgides  were  annual  days  of  solem- 
The  Lycurgides.        .  ...  r   r 

•  mty   appointed   in    honour  ot  JLycurgus  the  re- 
nowned lawgiver  of  Sparta. 

*••  The    Minelaia  was  a   festival  celebrated  at 

The  Menelaia. 

Therapnae  in  Laconia,  in  honour  of  Menelaus. 


322  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    FESTIVALS.  SEC.  VI. 

He  had  there  a  temple,  where  he  was  worsuipped  with  his  wife 
Helen  as  one  of  the  supreme  Gods. 

;  The  Muste  were  festivals  instituted  in  honour 

The  Muss. 

•  of  the  Muses  in  several  parts  of  Greece,  espe- 
cially among  the  Thespians,  every  fifth  year.  The  Macedonians 
observed  also  a  festival  in  honour  of  Jujiiter  and  the  Muses.  It 
had  been  instituted  by  king  Archelaus,  and  it  was  celebrated  with 
stage  plays,  games,  and  different  exhibitions,  which  continued 
nine  clays,  according  to  the  number  of  the  Muses. 

The  Nemesia  was    a  festival  in  memory  of 
The  Nemesia. 
=====    deceased  persons,  as  t'.ie  Goddess  Nemesis  was 

supposed  to  defend  the  relics  and  the  memory  of  the  dead  from 
all  insult. 

=====         The    Nejihalia   were  festivals    in   honour  of 
The  Nephalia. 

•••     Mnemosyne  the  mother  of  the  Muses.     No  wine 

was  used  during  the  ceremony,  but  merely  a  mixture  of  water 
and  honey. 

1  The  Niceteria  was  a  festival  of  Athens,  in  me- 

The  Niceteria.  f-  ,      •       , 

._  mory  oi  the  victory  which  Mmer-vv  obtained  over 

Neptune,  in  their  dispute  about  giving  a  name  to  the  capital  of  the 
country. 

",          The  Numenia,  or  Neomenia  was  a  festival  ob- 
TheNumenia.  .      .          f 

.  served  by  the  Greeks  at  the  beginning  of  every 

lunar  month,  in  honor  of  all  the  Gods,  but  especially  of  dpollo,  or 
the  Sun,  who  is  justly  deemed  the  author  of  light,  and  of  whatever 
distinction  is  made  in  the  months,  seasons,  days,  and  nights.  It 
was  observed  with  games  and  public  entertainments  which  were 
provided  at  the  expense  of  rich  citizens,  and  which- were  always 
frequented  by  the  poor.  Solemn  prayers  were  offered  at  Athens 
during  the  solemnity  for  the  prospeiity  of  the  republic.  The 
Demi-Gods  as  well  as  the  Heroes  of  the  ancients  were  honoured 
and  invoked  in  this  festival. 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  323 


OF    FESTIVALS. 


=====  The  Oscofihoria  was  a  festival  celebrated  at 
The  Oscophoria. 

•  Athens.  Its  original  institution  is  thus  mention- 

ed: Theseus  at  his  return  from  Crete,  forgot  to  hang  out  the  white 
sail  by  which  his  father  was  to  be  apprized  of  his  success.  This 
neglect  was  fatal  to  sEgeus,  who  with  chagrin  at  the  supposed  ill 
success  of  his  son,  threw  himself  into  the  sea  and  perished.  The- 
seus no  sooner  reached  the  land,  than  he  sent  a  herald  to  inform 
his  father  of  his  safe  return,  and  in  the  mean  time,  he  began  to 
make  the  sacrifices  which  he  vowed  when  he  first  set  sail  from 
Crete.  The  herald,  on  his  entrance  into  the  city,  found  the  peo- 
ple in  great  agitation.  Some  lamented  the  kings  death,  while 
others,  elated  at  the  sudden  news  of  the  victory  of  Theseus^ 
crowned  the  herald  with  garlands  in  demonstration  of  joy.  The 
herald  carried  back  the  garlands  on  his  staff  to  the  sea  shore, 
and  after  he  had  waited  till  Theseus  had  finished  his  sacri- 
fice, he  related  the  melancholy  story  of  the  king's  "death. 
Upon  this,  the  people  ran  in  crowds  to  the  city,  shewing 
their  grief  by  cries  and  lamentations.  From  that  circumstance, 
therefore,  at  the  feast  of  Oscofihoria,  not  the  herald,  but  his 
staff,  is  crowned  with  garlands,  and  all  the  people  that  were  pre- 
sent always  made  -two  exclamations,  the  first  of  which  express- 
ed haste,  and  the  other  a  consternation  or  depression  of  spirits. 
The  historian  further  mentions,  that  Theseus^  when  he  went 
to  Crete,  did  not  take  with  him  the  usual  number  of  virgins,  but 
that  instead  of  two  of  them,  he  filled  up  the  number  with  two 
youths  of  his  acquaintance,  whom  he  made  pass  for  women,  by 
disguising  their  dress,  and  by  using  them  to  the  ointments  and 
perfumes  of  women,  as  well  as  by  a  long  and  successful  imitation 
of  their  voice.  The  imposition  succeeded;  their  sex  was  not  dis- 
covered in  Crete,  and  when  Theseus  had  triumphed  over  the 
Minotaur,  he,  with  these  two  youths,  led  a  procession  with 
branches  in  their  hands,  in  the  habits  which  were  afterwards  used 
by  the  women  at  the  celebration  of  the  Oscofihoria.  The  branches 


324  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    FESTIVALS.  SEC.  VI. 

which  were  carried  were  in  honour  of  Bacchus  or  of  Ariadne,  or 
because  they  returned  in  autumn,  \\hen  the  grapes  were  ripe. 
Besides  this  procession,  there  was  also  a  race  exhibited,  in  which 
only  young  men,  whose  parents  were  both  alive,  were  permitted 
to  engage.  It  was  usual  for  them  to  run  from  the  temple  of  Bac- 
chus to  that  of  Minerva,  which  was  on  the  sea-shore,  where  the 
boughs  which  they  carried  in  their  hands  were  deposited.  The 
rewards  of  the  conqueror  was  a  cap  the  name  of  which  signified 
Jivefold,  because  it  contained  a  mixture  of  five  different  things, 
viz.,  wine,  honey,  cheese,  meal,  and  oil, 

.  The  Plynteria  was  a  Festival  among  the  Greeks 

The  Plynteria.  . 

•.-•    in  honour  ot  Mtnerva,  who  received  trom  the 

daughter  of  Cecrops  the  name  of  Aglauros.  During  the  solem- 
nity, they  undressed  the  statue  of  the  Goddess,  and  washed  it. 
The  day  on  which  it  was  observed  was  universally  looked  upon  as 
unfortunate  and  inauspicious,  and  on  that  account,  no  person  was 
permitted  to  appear  in  the  temples,  as  they  were  purposely  sur- 
rounded with  ropes. 

.  The  Septerion  was  a  festival  observed  once  in 

The  Septerion. 
_^_^___^_    nine  years  at  Delphos,  in  honour  oi  Apollo.     It 

was  a  representation  of  the  pursuit  of  Python  by  ApollO)  and  of 
the  victory  obtained  by  the  God. 

-  The  Soteria  were  days  appointed  for  thanks- 

The  Soteria. 

•  givings  and  the  offering  of  sacrifices,  for  deli- 
verance from  danger.  One  of  these  was  observed  of  Sicyon,  to 
commemorate  the  deliverance  of  that  city  from  the  hands  of  the 
Macedonians,  by  Aratus. 

'••-  The    Thargdia  were  festivals  in   honour  of 

The  Thargelia. 
v  Apollo  and  Diana.  They  lasted  two  days,  and  the 

youngest  of  both  sexes  carried  olive  branches  on  which  were 
suspended  cakes  and  fruits. 

-'         The  Theoxinia  was  a  festival  celebrated  in 
The  Theoxinia. 

honour  of  all  the  Gods  in  every  city  of  Greece, 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY. 

SEC.  VI.  OF    FESTIVALS. 

but  especially  at  Athens.  Games  were  then  observed,  and  the 
conqueror  who  obtained  the  prize,  received  a  large  sum  of  mo- 
ney, or,  according  to  others,  a  vest  beautifully  ornamented.  The 
Dioscuri  established  a  festival  of  the  same  name,  in  honour  of 
the  Gods,  who  had  visited  them  at  one  of  their  entertainments. 

-  The  Thesmofihora  were  instituted  by  Triptol- 
Thesmophora. 

-    •   '     emus,  in  honour  of  Ceres,  or  according  to  some 

by  Orpheus.  The  greater  part  of  the  Grecian  cities,  especially 
Athens,  observed  them  with  great  solemnity.  The  worshippers 
were  free-born  women,  whose  husbands  were  obliged  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  the  festival.  They  were  assisted  by  a  priest  who 
carried  a  crown  on  his  head.  There  were  also  certain  virgins  who 
officiated,  and  were  maintained  at  tlie  public  expense.  The  free- 
born  women  were  dressed  in  white  robes,  to  intimate  their  spot- 
less innocence;  they  were  charged  to  observe  the  strictest  chas- 
tity during  the  five  days'  celebration  of  the  solemnity,  and  on 
that  account  it  was  usual  to  strew  their  bed  with  fleabane,  and  all 
such  herbs  as  were  supposed  to  have  the  power  of  expelling  all 
venereal  propensities.  They  were  also  charged  not  to  eat  pome- 
granates, or  to  wear  garlands  on  their  heads,  as  the  whole  was  to 
be  observed  with  the  greatest  signs  of  seriousness  and  gravity, 
without  any  display  of  wantonness  or  levity.  It  was  however  usual 
to  jest  at  one  another,  as  the  Goddess  Ceres  had  been  made  to 
smile  by  a  merry  expression  when  she  was  sad  and  melancholy 
for  the  recent  loss  of  her  daughter  Proserfiine. 

•  The  Triclaria,  was  a  yearly  festival  celebrated 
The  Triclaria. 

•:  by  the  inhabitants  of  three  cities  in  Ionia,  to  ap- 
pease the  anger  of  Diana  Triclaria,  whose  temple  had  been  defiled 
by  the  adulterous  commerce  of  MenalippusandCometho.  It  was 
usual  to  sacrifice  a  boy  and  girj,  but  this  barbarous  custom  was  abo- 
lished by  Eurypilus.  The  three  cities  were  Aroc,  Messatis,  and 
Anthea,  whose  united  labours  had  erected  the  temple  of  the  God- 
dess. 2  S 


326  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 


OF    FESTIVALS. 


»•  ",••.-         The  Xanthica  was  a  festival  observed  bv  the 

The  Xanthica. 
•"  Macedonians  in  the  month  called  Xanthicus^  the 

same  -Asdflril.  It  was  then  usual  to  make  a  lustration  of  the  army 
with  great  solemnity.  A  bitch  was  cut  into  two  parts,  and  one  half 
of  the  body  placed  on  one  side,  and  the  other  part  on  the  other 
side,  after  which  the  soldiers  marched  between  and  they  imitated 
a  real  battle  by  a  sham  engagement. 

3d,  Roman  Festivals* 

"       .  The  Roman  calendar  contained  yet  a  greater 

The    Romans 
adopted     Greek    number  ot  testivals  than  that  ot  the  Greeks;  since 

Shuted  others ""    besides  those  that  the>'  had  borr°wed  from  them, 
i  — ~sa    they  instituted  several  others  unknown  to  the 
rest  of  the  world.     We  will  first  mention  those  they  had  adopted 
from  the  Greeks. 

•|T"  • "•'•          1st,  As  the  Greeks  celebrated  the  Chronia  in 

First,  those  that     .  r   ,,  ..  .    ,       „ 

were  common  to    nonour  of  Saturn,  so  did  the  Romans  celebrate 

toth-  the  same  ceremonies  under  the  name  of  Saturn- 

"  alia.  They  were  instituted  long  before  the  foun- 
dation of  Rome,  in  commemoration  of  the  freedom  and  equality 
which  prevailed  on  earth  in  the  golden  reign  of  Saturn.  The  Sa- 
turnalia were  originally  celebrated  only  for  one  day,  but  afterwards 
the  solemnity  continued  for  three,  four,  five  and  at  last  for  seven 
days.  The  celebration  was  remarkable  for  the  liberty  which  uni- 
versally prevailed.  The  slaves  were  permitted  to  ridicule  their 
masters,  and  to  speak  with  freedom  upon  every  subject.  It  was 
usual  for  friends  to  make  presents  to  one  another,  all  animosity 
ceased,  no  criminals  were  executed,  schools  were  shut,  hostilities 
were  suspended,  while  all  was  mirth,  riot,  and  debauchery.  In  the 
sacrifices  the  priests  made  their  offerings  with  their  heads  unco- 
vered, a  custom  which  was  never  observed  at  any  other  festival. 
— 2d,  The  festival  named  Jovialia  was  the  same  with  what  the 
Greeks  called  Diasia,  and  was  celebrated  in  honour  of  Jupiter. — 
3d,  The  festival  Junonia>  instituted  by  the  Romans,  in  honour  of 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  32T 


SEC.   VI.  OF  FESTIVALS. 


was  known  to  the  Greeks  by  the  name  of  Herxa,  with  the 
same  ceremonies;  for  which  see  Hecatomboia.  —  4th,  The  Megale* 
sia,  common  to  both  of  these  idolatrous  nations,  was  instituted  in 
honour  of  Cydele,  or  of  the  great  mother.  The  Romans  who  cele- 
brated this  solemnity  on  mount  Palatine,  near  the  temple  of  that 
Goddess,  added  to  it  two  days  called  Megalesian  days.—  5th,  The 
Cerealia  and  Ambervalia  of  the  Romans  corresponded  to  the  De- 
metria  and  T/iesmofthoria  of  the  Greeks,  all  of  them  festivals  of 
Ceres.—  6th,  The  Mercurialia  of  the  Romans,  in  honour  of  Mer- 
cury, were  the  same  with  the  Hermaa,  of  the  Greeks.  —  7th,  The 
Grecian  Athensea,  or  Pauathenxa  in  honour  of  Miner-va^  were 
adopted  by  the  Romans  under  the  name  of  Mangetia.-^Sth,  Both 
of  these  nations  had  the  Orgies,  the  Trieteria^  the  Nycteleia,  and 
the  Bacchanalia^  all  festivals  of  Bacchus.  But  because  in  these 
last  the  Romans  made  some  alterations,  it  is  proper  to  take  notice 
of  them.  At  first  they  celebrated  their  Bacchanalia  only  three 
times  a  year;  afterwards  they  solemnized  them  every  month.  I 
shall  give,  from  LIVY,  a  declaration  thereupon,  given  by  Hispala 
Fecenia  a  freed-woman,  to  the  consul  Porthumius.  "  In  earlier 
times,  says  she  to  him,  the  Bacchanalia  were  celebrated  by  none 
but  women,  no  man  being  allowed  to  join  them.  Three  days  in 
the  year  were  chosen  for  initiating  into  these  mysteries,  and  the 
ceremonial  was  performed  by  day.  The  priestesses  who  were  to 
preside  there  were  left  to  the  choice  of  the  matrons.  A  total  in- 
novation was  made  by  Paculla  Minia:  she  initiated  her  two  sons; 
caused  the  ceremony  to  be  performed  in  the  night;  and  instead  of 
three  days,  she  instituted  five  in  each  month.  This  promiscuous 
meeting  of  men  and  women  introduced  horrid  irregularities; 
whereof  if  any  of  the  company  shewed  a  detestation,  they  offered 
him  up  as  a  victim  acceptable  to  their  God,  or  took  care  to  be  rid 
of  him  by  some  piece  of  machinery,  and  then  gave  out  that  he 
was  carried  up  to  heaven.  During  this  festival,  the  men,  counter- 
feiting madness,  and  exhibiting  various  contortions  of  their  bodies, 


328  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  Ill- 

OF    FESTIVALS.  SEC.  VI. 

began  to  prophesy;  while  the  women,  in  their  Bacchanal  dress,  and 
all  disshevelled,  ran  towards  the  Tiber,  with  burning  torches  in 
their  hands,  which  they  plunge  into  the  river,  where  they  remain 
unextinguished,  as  being  made  of  sulphur  and  lime."  The  senate, 
to  rectify  this  disorder,  passed  a  decree,  suppressing  the  celebra- 
tion of  these  infamous  mysteries  in  Rome,  and  through  all  Italy; 
but  the  Liberalid)  another  festival  of  Bacchus^  surnamed  Liber  Pa- 
ter, which  they  solemnized  on  the  17th  of  March,  were  still  con- 
tinued, as  not  being  quite  so  licentious.  Here  they  offered  up  a 
liquor  composed  of  honey,  which  they  threw  into  the  fire. — 9th, 
The  Sufiercalia  were  equally  celebrated  in  Greece,  and  at  Rome, 
in  honour  of  Pan;  whose  ceremony,  as  we  are  told  by  LIVY,PLU- 
TAKCH,  and  JUSTIN,  was  brought  by  Evander  from  Arcadia  into 
Italy.  The  youth,  during  this  festival,  run  about  quite  naked,  with 
•whips  in  their  hands,  lashing  all  who  came  in  their  way  without 
distinction.  The  women,  even  those  of  quality,  believing  there 
was  a  virtue  in  those  whips  to  make  them  fruitful,  or  to  bring 
them  to  a  happy  deliverance  in  case  they  were  pregnant,  offered 
themselves  to  receive  them.  VALERIUS  MAXIMUS  will  have  it, 
that  this  festival  was  only  introduced  in  the  time  of  Romulus,  at 
the  persuasion  of  the  shepherd  Faustulus.  At  the  first  celebra- 
tion, they  offered  up  goats  to  the  God  Pan.  The  shepherds  who 
were  invited  to  it,  being  heated  with  drink  at  the  feast,  divided 
into  two  bands,  and  ran  about  in  a  frolicksome  way,  clad  in  the 
skins  of  the  victims  they  had  now  offered.  To  render  this  festi- 
val more  solemn,  the  Romans  founded  two  colleges  of  Lufierci, 
named  the  Fabii  and  Quinu'lii;  afterwards  they  created  a  third  in 
honour  of  Caesar,  even  in  his  life-time. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  mention  in  alphabet- 

cal  °rder'   SUch  festivals  as  were  °f  Roman  in' 
—their  motives.      stitution;  remarking  by  the  way,  that  they  al- 
ways had  a  more  rational  motive  for  their  fes- 
tivals, than  had,  for  the   most  part,  the   earlier   institutors   of 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.  '329 

SEC.  VI.  OF    FESTIVALS. 

those  superstitious  ceremonies.  By  them  they  supplicated  the 
Gods,  either  for  a  plentiful  harvest,  or  some  other  blessing.  By 
them  they  appeased  those  whom  they  thought  they  had  injured, 
or  sought  to  turn  away  the  calamities  they  were  threatened  with, 
as  we  may  judge  from  the  history  of  those  we  shall  mention. — 
Oftentimes  it  was  to  keep  up  the  remembrance  of  a  benefit  re- 
ceived; and  such  was  the  festival  named  the  Luceria^  a  word  de- 
rived from  Lucus,  a  sacred  grove.  This  solemnity  was  celebrated 
in  one  of  those  groves  which  was  between  the  Via  Salaria  and 
the  Tiber,  in  commemoration  of  the  deliverance  of  the  Romans, 
•who  were  saved  from  the  Guuls  by  flying  into  that  retreat.  Or 
else  it  was  to  keep  up  the  memory  of  some  disaster;  such  was 
the  festival  of  the  Pofiulifugia,  to  commemorate  the  day  when 
the  people,  and  even  Romulus's  guards  fled,  upon  the  news  of 
the  confederacy  of  the  Fidenates  and  the  other  Latins,  against 
the  Romans. — Sometimes  they  were  merely  to  promote  mutual 
joy;  of  this  kind  was  the  festival  of  Maium<e,  so  called  because 
it  was  celebrated  on  the  first  of  May,  when  the  principal  per- 
sons of  the  city  repaired  to  Ostia,  where  they  exercised  them- 
selves in  sports  of  every  kind.  As  solemnities,  where  pleasure 
has  full  sway,  are  of  all  others  the  hardest  to  be  abolished, 
this  last  continued  a  long  time  even. under  the  Christian  emperors. 
—There  were  festivals  appropriated  to  certain  stations  in  life,  as 
the  Caprotinte  or  the  maid-servants,  and  others  for  men-servants. 
—The  merchants  had  one  which  they  celebrated  in  the  month  of 
May,  in  honour  of  Mercury,  the  God  of  commerce — The  ma- 
trons celebrated  the  Matralia  in  honor  of  the  Goddess  Matuta,  to 
whom  they  offered  rustic  libations  which  they  boiled  in  earthen 
pots:  these  are  the  libations  which  OVID  names  Flava  Liba.  But 
as  grandeur  w<.ms  to  be  every  where  maintained,  even  at  the  foot 
of  the  altar,  the  Roman  ladies,  while  they  excluded  from  this  fes- 
tival all  the  other  slaves  of  their  own  sex,  admitted  one  whom 
they  buffetied  heartily.  These  matrons  had  also  another  festival, 


330  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  HI. 

OF    FESTIVALS.  SEC.  VI. 

named  Matronalia,  which  they  celebrated  in  honour  of  the  God 
Mars,  on  the  first  of  that  month  which  is  named  from  him.  OVID 
gives  five  reasons  for  the  institution  of  this  festival.  The  first,  in 
memory  of  the  peace  made  between  the  Sabines  and  Romans,  in 
which  the  Sabine  women,  who  were  married  to  the  Romans,  had 
so  great  a  hand.  The  second,  that  Mars  might  make  these  Ro- 
man ladies  as  happy  as  Romulus  his  son.  The  third,  that  they 
might  be  blest  with  the  same  fruitfulness  as  the  month  of  March 
imparts  to  the  earth.  The  fourth,  because  it  was  upon  the  first 
of  March  that  a  temple  had  been  dedicated  on  mount  Esquilines, 
to  Lucina  the  Goddess  of  childbed.  The  fifth,  which  comes  to 
the  same,  because  Mars  was  the  son  of  Juno,  who  presides  over 
marriage. — The  pastors  and  shepherds  too  had  their  festival,  that 
of  .the  Palilia,  dedicated  to  Pales  their  Goddess.  On  that  day  the 
people  took  care  to  be  purified  with  perfumes,  mingled  in  horses' 
blood,  with  the  ashes  of  a  calf  that  was  burnt  as  soon  as  it  was 
taken  from  the  mother's  belly,  and  with  stalks  of  beans.  The 
shepherds,  on  the  morning  of  the  festival  day,  purified  likewise 
their  folds  and  flocks,  with  water  and  brimstone,  and  burned  the 
shrub  called  savine,  whose  smoke  diffused  itself  over  all  the  fold. 
After  this,  they  offered  in  sacrifice  to  the  Goddess,  milk,  boiled 
wine,  and  millet;  then  followed  the  feast.  In  the  evening  they 
made  bonfires  of  straw  or  hay,  and  leaped  over  them.  OVID  de- 
scribes this  whole  solemnity  at  full  length.  These  ceremonies 
were  accompanied  with  musical  instruments,  such  as  flutes,  cym- 
bals, and  labours,  which  played  all  ihe  day  long. — In  fine,  the 
young  people  and  the 'scholars  had  likewise  their  festivals,  named 
Quinqvatria,  the  etymology  of  which  may  be  seen  in  VARRO  and 
FESTUS.  On  that  day  the  scholars  made  presents  to  their  mas- 
ters: this  festival  fell  upon  the  19th  of  March. 

»  ••-         The  dgonulia   or  dgonia  were    festivals   in 

The  Agonalia. 

Rome,  celebrated  three  times  a  year  in  honour 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.  331 


SEC.  VI.  OF    FESTIVALS. 

of  Janus  or  Agonius*  They  were  instituted  by  Numa,  and  on  the 
festival  days  the  chief  priest  used  to  offer  a  ram. 

The  Agones  Cajiitolini  were  games  celebrated 

fiflh  year  Up°U  the  CaP"oline  hil1-  Prizes 
were  proposed  for  agility  and  strength,  as  well 

as  for  poetical  and  literary  compositions.  The  poet  STATIUS  pub- 
licly recited  his  Thebaid^  which  was  not  received  with  much  ap- 
plause. 

.  The  Angeronalia  was  a  festival  of  Angerona 

The  Angeronalia.  c    . 

.-  the  Goddess  of  silence,  as  Harfiocrates  was  the 

God  thereof  among  the  Greeks,  was  celebrated  the  21st  of  De- 
cember. 

.  The  Armilustrium  was  a  festival  at  Rome  on 

•  the  19th  of  October.  When  the  sacrifices  were 
offered,  all  the  people  appeared  under  arms.  This  festival  has  of- 
ten been  confounded  with  that  of  the  Salii,  though  easily  distin- 
guished; because  the  latter  was  observed  the  2d  of  March;  and 
on  the  celebration  of  the  Armilustrium  they  always  played  on  a 
flute;  whereas  at  the  Salii  they  played  upon  the  trumpet.  It  was 
instituted  A.  U.  C.  543. 

'  The  Augustalia  was  a  festival  at  Rome,  in 

The  Augustalia. 

•  commemoration  or  the  day  on  which  Augustus 

returned  to  Rome,  after  he  had  established  peace  over  the  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  empire. 

•  ••  The  Cafirotinx  were  festivals  celebrated  on 

The  Caprotinae.  .      , 

======^==    the  9th  of  July,  in  honour  of  Juno  surnamed 

Cafirotina^  where  there  were  none  but  women  to  minister  the 
sacrifices.  The  servant-maids,  for  whom  they  were  celebrated, 
ran  about  during  this  solemnity,  beating  themselves  with  their 
fists  and  with  whips. 

The  Carmentales  were  festivals  at  Rome,  in 
TheCarmentales. 

•  honour  of  Carmenta,  celebrated  the  1 1th  of  Ja- 

nuary near  the  Porta  Carmentalia,  below  the  Capitol.  This  God- 


SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  HI. 

OF    FESTIVALS.  SEC.  VI. 

dess  was  entreated  to  render  the  Roman  matrons  prolific,  and 
their  labours  easy. 

1      '  The  Charistia  were  festivals  at  Rome,  cele- 

The  Charistia. 

=====  brated  en  the  20th  of  February,  by  the  distribu- 
tion of  mutual  presents. 

•  The  Comfiitalia  were  festivals  celebrated  by 
The  Compitalia. 

;=============     the  Romans  on  the  12th  of  January  and  the  6th 

of  March,  in  the  cross-ways,  in  honour  of  the  household  Gods 
called  Lares.  Tarquin  the  proud,  or,  according  to  some,  Servius 
Tullius,  instituted  them,  on  account  of  an  oracle  which  ordered 
him  to  offer  heads  to  the  Lares.  He  sacrificed  to  them  human 
victims;  but  J.  Brutus,  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Tarquins, 
thought  it  sufficient  to  offer  them  only  flo/i/iy  heads,  and  figures 
of  men,  or  their  clothes  stuffed  with  straw.  The  slaves  were  ge- 
nerally the  ministers,  and,  during  the  celebration,  they  enjoyed 
their  freedom. 

•  The  Consuales  Ludi,  or  Consualia,  were  festi- 
Consuales  Ludi. 

•  vals  at  Rome,  in  honour  of  Consus,  the  God  of 

counsel,  whose  altar  Romulus  discovered  under  the  ground.  This 
altar  was  always  covered  except  at  the  festival,  when  a  mule  was 
sacrificed,  and  games  and  horse-races  exhibited  in  honour  of 
Neptune.  It  was  during  these  festivals  that  Romulus  carried 
away  the  Sabine  women  who  had  assembled  to  be  spectators  of 
the  games.  They  were  flist  instituted  by  Romulus.  Some  say 
however,  that  Romulus  only  regulated  and  re-instituted  them  af- 
ter they  had  been  before  established  by  Evander.  During  the  ce- 
lebration, which  happened  about  the  middle  of  August,  horses, 
mules,  and  asses,  were  exempted  from  all  labour,  and  were  led 
through  the  streets  adorned  with  garlands  and  flowers. 

-  The    Equiria    were    festivals   established    at 
TheEquiria. 

•  Rome  by  Romulus,  in  honour  of  Mars^  when 

horse-races  and  games  were  exhibited  in  the  Campus  Martius. 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  33$ 

SEC.  VI.  OF    FESTIVALS. 

"     ,     .,  The  FaunaLia  was  celebrated  on  the  5th  of 

The  Faunalia. 
=====    December,  in  honour  of  Faunus.  Their  place  of 

meeting  for  that  purpose  was  in  the  woods,  where  they  sacrificed 
he-goats,  and  made  libations  of  wine. 

The  Feralia  was  a  festival  in  honour  of  the 
Dead,  instituted  by  ^Eneas,  and  observed  at 
Rome  the  17th  or  21st  of  February.  It  continued  for  eleven 
days,  during  which  time  presents  were  carried  to  the  graves  of 
the  Deceased;  marriages  were  forbidden;  and  the  temples  of  the 
Gods  were  shut.  It  was  universally  believed  that  the  Manes  of 
their  departed  friends  came  and  hovered  over  their  graves,  and 
fensted  upon  the  provisions  that  the  hand  of  piety  and  affection 
had  procured  for  them.  Their  punishment  in  the  infernal  regions 
were  also  suspended,  and  during  that  time  they  enjoyed  rest  and 
liberty. 

FerixLatinx.=  ThC  *"*"*  ^'"^  WCre  festivals  at  Rome, 
—  instituted  by  Tarquin  the  proud.  The  principal 
magistrates  of  47  towns  in  Latinum  usually  assembled  on  a  mount 
near  Rome,  where  they  altogether  with  the  Roman  magistrates 
offered  a  bull  to  Jufiiter,  of  which  they  carried  home  some  part 
after  the  immolation,  having  first  sworn  mutual  friendship  and 
alliance.  It  continued  but  one  day  originally,  but  in  process  of 
time  four  days  were  dedicated  to  its  celebration. 

The  Floral1r=  The  Floralia  were  Sar«cs  in  honour  of  Flora 
=====55  at  Rome.  They  were  instituted  about  the  age 
of  Romulus,  but  they  were  not  celebrated  with  regularity  and 
proper  attention  till  the  year  U.  C.  580.  They  were  observed 
yearly,  and  exhibited  a  scene  of  the  most  unbounded  licentious- 
ness. It  is  reported  that  Cato  wished  once  to  be  present  at  the 
celebration,  and  that  when  h*e  saw  that  the  deference  for  his  pre- 
sence interrupted  the  Feast,  he  retired,  not  choosing  to  be  the 
spectator  of  the  prostitution  of  naked  women  in  a  public  theatre. 
2T 


S34  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF    FESTIVALS.  SEC.  VI. 

This  behaviour  so  captivated  the  degenerate  Romans,  that  the 
venerable  senator  was  treated  with  the  most  uncommon  applause 
as  he  retired. 

Mm.  ••••"•        The  Hilaria,  whose  name  sufficiently  denotes 

The  Hilaria. 

•  the  gaiety  of   the  festival,  were  celebrated  in 

honour  of  Cybele  on  the  25th  of  March.  Here  they  appeared  in 
their  finest  clothes;  nay,  they  exchanged  the  dress  which  belong- 
ed to  their  station  for  that  of  another,  and  if  they  had  any  thing 
in  their  houses  fine  or  curious,  they  were  sure  to  have  it  carried 
before  them  in  procession. 

..  The  Lemuria  were  instituted  for  appeasing 

The  Lemuria. 
.      -      •  :        the  malignant  Genii,  whom  they  called  Lemures. 

They  believed  they  were  able  to  banish  them  from  houses  which 
they  infested  by  night,  and  terrified  people,  by  throwing  beans  at 
them. 

:  •  '  '       •         The  Miner-valia  was  a  festival  in  honour  of 

The  Minervalia. 

•  Minerva  at  Rome,  which  continued  during  five 

days.  The  beginning  of  the  celebration  was  the  18th  of  March. 
On  the  first  day  sacrifices  and  oblations  were  presented,  but,  how- 
ever, without  the  effusion  of  blood.  On  the  second,  third,  and 
fourth  days,  shows  of  gladiators  were  exhibited,  and  on  the  fifth 
day,  there  was  a  solemn  procession  through  the  streets  of  the 
city.  On  the  days  of  the  celebration,  scholars  obtained  holidays, 
and  it  was  usual  for  them  to  offer  prayers  to  Minerva  for  learn- 
ing and  wisdom,  which  the  Goddess  patronized;  and  on  their  re- 
turn to  school  they  presented  their  master  v  ith  a  gift  which  has 
received  the  name  of  Minerval.  They  were  much  the  same  as 
the  Panathcnzaol  the  Greeks.  Plays  were  also  acted,  and  dispu- 
tations were  held  on  subjects  of  literature.  They  received  their 
name  from  the  five  days  which  were  devoted  for  the  celebration. 

"'  The  Nemoralia  were  festivals  observed  in  the 

The  Nemoralia. 

woods  of  Aricia  in  honour  of  Diana,  who  presided 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  335 


SEC.  VI.  OF    FESTIVALS. 

over  the  country  and  the  forests,  on  which  account  that  part  of 
Italy  was  sometimes  denominated  Nemorensis  ager. 

--  The  Palilia  was  a  festival  celebrated  by  the 
=^=^=^=====  Romans,  in  honour  of  the  Goddess  Pales.  The 
ceremony  consisted  in  burning  heaps  of  straw,  and  in  leaping 
over  them.  The  purifications  were  made  with  the  smoke  of 
horse's  blood,  and  with  the  ashes  of  a  calf.  The  purification  of 
the  flocks  was  also  made  with  the  smoke  of  sulphur,  of  the  olive, 
the  pine,  the  laurel,  and  the  rosemary.  Offerings  of  mild  cheese, 
boiled  wine,  and  cakes  of  millet,  were  afterwards  made  to  the 
Goddess.  This  festival  was  observed  on  the  21st  of  April,  and 
it  was  during  the  celebration  that  Romulus  first  began  to  build 
his  city.  The  sacrifices  were  offered  to  the  Divinity  for  the  fe- 
cundity of  the  flocks. 

,••  The  Parentalia  was  a  festival  annually  ob- 

The  Parentalia. 
__________    served  at  Rome  in  honour  or  the  Dead,      i  he 

friends  and  relations  of  the  deceased  assembled  on  the  occasion, 
when  sacrifices  were  offered  and  banquets  provided.  JLneas  first 
established  it  in  Italy. 

•  The  Portumnalia  was  a  festival  of  Portumnus 

The  Portumnalia. 

5=s==    at  Rome,  celebrated  on  the  17th  of  August,  in 

a  very  solemn  and  lugubrious  manner,  on  the  borders  of  the  Tiber. 

===        The  Regifugium  was  instituted  to  keen  up  the 
The  Regifugium. 
5s====5ss======    memory  of  the  expulsion  of  the  Tarquins;  and 

on  that  day  the  Rex  Sacrificulus^  or  the  king  Priest^  fled  as  soon 
as  the  sacrifice  was  offered.  PLUTARCH  assigns  another  origin 
of  this  festival;  but  OVID  and  FESTUS  are  in  this  particular  rather 
to  be  believed  than  he. 

..  The  Remuria  were  festivals  established  at  Rome 

by  Romulus,  to  appease  the  Manes  of  his  brother 


Remus.     They  were  afterwards  called  Lemuria^  and  celebrated 
yearly. 


SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATKY.  <  HAP.  ill. 


OF    FESTIVALS.  SEC.  VI. 


"  As  the  fear  of  future  evils  hud  a  great  share 

The  Kobigalia. 

'•  in  the  religious  worship  of  the  Pagans,  they  in- 

stituted festivals  in  order  to  be  preserved  from  them.  Of  this 
number  was  their  Robigalia,  in  honour  of  the  God  Robigus,  by 
whom  they  believed  their  corn  was  secured  from  blasting.  It 
was  celebrated  about  the  end  of  April;  and  the  offering  to  this 
Divinity  was  a  sheep  and  a  dog,  with  wine  and  incense. 

i    .    • '  "•  The  Sefitimontium  was  a  festival  instituted  at 

Septimontium. 

••  Rome,  when  they  enlarged  its  precincts  by  ta- 

king in  a  seventh  hill.  This  festival,  at  which  they  offered  several 
sacrifices  in  different  places,  fell  in  the  month  of  December,  and 
on  that  day  the  emperor  gave  donatives  to  the  people. 

-  The  Terminalia  were  so  named,  according  to 

The  Terminalia.      , 
..  \  ARRO,  because  they  were  celebrated  on  the 

last  day  of  February,  which  closed  the  Roman  year:  or  rather,  as 
DIONYSIUS  of  Halicarnassus  alleges,  because  they  were  institu- 
ted by  Numa,  in  honour  of  the  God  Terminus,  when  that  prince 
ordered  land-marks  to  be  fixed,  that  every  man  might  know  the 
extent  of  his  own  ground.  This  festival  was  entirely  rural,  and 
nothing  of  the  animal  kind  was  then  permitted  to  be  offered,  for 
fear  of  staining  with  blood  the  marches,  near  which  they  present- 
ed fruits  to  the  God  who  presided  over  them,  and  made  libations 
to  him  of  milk  and  wine.  These  circumstances  however  must 
have  been  altered  some  time  after,  since  we  learn  fr<jm  PLU- 
TARCH, that  the  peasants  met  on  that  clay  near  the  marches,  and 
there  sacrificed  a  sow  or  a  lamb.  Be  that  as  it  will,  there  was  no- 
thing more  sacred  among  the  Romans  than  the  land-marks,  and 
they  who  were  so  audacious  as  to  change  them,  were  devoted  to 
the  Furies,  and  might  lawfully  be  put  to  death. 

• '         The  Vestalia  were  festivals  in  honour  of  Vesta, 

The    ViBtalm. 

—  observed  at  Rome  on  the  9th,  of  June.  Banquets 

were  then  prepared  before  the  houses,  and  meat  was  sent  to  the 
vestals  to  be  offered  to  the  Gods,  milletones  were  decked  with 


CHAP.  HI.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  337 

SEC.  VII.  OF    GAMES. 

garlands,  and  the  asses  that  turned  them  were  led  around  the 
city  covered  with  the  like  ornaments.  The  ladies  walked  in  the 
procession,  bare-footed,  to  the  temple  of  the  Goddess,  and  an  al- 
tar was  erected  to  Jufiiter  surnamed  Pistor. 

.       •  The  Vinalia  were  celebrated  twice,  a  year;  in 

The  Vmaha. 

j-    May  and   September:  the  Jirst,  for  tasting  the 

•wine;  and  the  second,  for  procuring  a  favourable  season  for  the 
vintage. 

',    „  ,        ,   ••          The  Vulcanalia  were  festivals  in  honour  of 
The  Vulcanalia. 
1  Vulcan  observed   in  the  month  of  August.  The 

streets  were  illuminated,  fires  kindled  every  where,  and  animals 
thrown  into  the  flames  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  Deity. 

•       Vertumnus,  Pomona,  and  a  vast  number  of  other 
Comparative 
remark   between     Gods  and  Demi-Gods  had  likewise  their  festivals, 

Games  9  from  whi°ri  nothing  particular  being  to  be  learn- 

=====  ed,  I  refer  to  OVID,  and  to  ROSINUS,  who  has 
given  a  Roman  calendar,  with  all  its  Festivals  and  Holidays. — We 
shall  now  proceed  to  consider  the  article  of  Games,  between 
which,  and  Festivals  we  will  make  this  comparative  remark;  that 
there  was  no  other  essential  difference  between  them,  than,  that 
to  the  sacrifices  and  other  religious  ceremonies  of  the  Festivals^ 
were  superadded  -various  Feats  of  Bodily  and  Mental  /lowers,  called 
Combats,  which  c-vistituted  the  distinguishing  features  and  princi- 
pal ceremonies  of  the  Games. 


SECTION    SEVENTH. 

OF  GJIMES. 

BY  these  GAMES.   I   understand  that  sort  of 
Games  were  re- 
ligious   instituti-    shows    winch     religion    had    consecrated,    and 

also^olitfc  Wefe     Which  were  exhibitetl  Ul  Greece,  and  afterwards 
at  Rome,  either  in  the  Circus,  or  in  the  Stadium, 


338  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  Ill, 


OF    GAMES. 


or  in  the  Amphitheatres,  or  in  other  places  destined  to  that  use. 
I  say,  which  religion  had  consecrate,. — for  though,  in  Greece, 
there  were  none  of  them  but  such  as  were  dedicated  either  to 
some  God  in  particular,  or  to  several;  yet  the  solemnization  of 
them  never  commenced,  as  we  learn  from  TERTULLIAN,  till  af- 
ter having  offered  sacrifices,  and  performed  other  religious  cere- 
monies; and  afterwards  when  the  Romans  adopted  those  Games, 
the  senate  made  an  act  commanding  that  they  should  always  be 
dedicated  to  some  Divinity — But  I  ought  to  add,  that  policy  had 
likewise  a  good  share  in  the  institution  of  those  Games;  and  that 
that  policy  had  two  principal  objects;  one,  that  the  Greeks  there- 
by might  acquire,  from  their  youth,  a  martial  genius,  and  qualify 
themselves  for  battles  and  other  military  expeditions;  the  other, 
that  they  might  become  more  nimble,  mote  alert,  and  robust; 
these  exercises  being  \ery  proper,  according  to  unquestionable 
expei ience,  to  promote  bodily  strength  and  a  vigorous  state  of 
health.  Further,  we  may  easily  conceive,  that  such  a  subject  has 
escaped  neitlier  the  ancients  nor  moderns;  both  have  written  up- 
on it;  even  the  fathers  of  the  church,  TERTULLIAN,  CLEMENT  of 
Alexandria,  S.  CYPRIAN,  S.  AUGUSTINE,  have  made  mention  of 
it  in  their  works.  But  no  Ancient  has  e.nlarged  more  fully,  espe- 
cially as  to  the  Olyinfiic  Games,  than  PAUSANIAS,  who  has  given 
a  very  full  and  curious  account  of  them. 

•  Jf  we  would  trace  the  original  of  those  Games, 

•  TERTULLIAN  tells  us  that  the  Lydians  were  the 
first  inventors  of  them,  and  that  their  prince  Tyrrhenus,  was 
obliged  to  resign  to  his  brother  the  part  which  he  claimed  in  the 
dominions  their  father  had  left  them,  and  having  planted  a  colony 
in  that  part  of  Italy  which  from  that  time  was  called  Tyrrhenia, 
introduced  thither  the  use  of  those  sorts  of  shows.  HERODOTUS, 
and  after  him  DIONYKIUS  of  Halicarnassus,  had  said  the  same 
thing  long  before,  and  the  former  of  these  authors  informs  us  it 
•was  during  a  famine  which  raged  in  Lydia  in  the  time  of  Atys 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  339 

SEC.  VII.  OF  GAMES. 

the  son  oT  Manes,  that  the  Lydians,  to  redress  theii  grievances, 
finding  the  ground,  when  cultivated,  did  not  answer  the  expecta- 
tion of  the  labourer,  invented  for  their  amusement  several  sorts 
of  Games.  But,  in  truth,  those  which  HERODOTUS  speaks  of, 
were  rather  Games  of  recreation  than  shows  of  religion — I  know 
not,  indeed,  whether  it  was  from  the  Lydians  that  the  Greeks  de- 
rived an  idea  of  them;  but  it  is  certain  that  their  use  was  known 
to  Greece  in  the  heroic  ages;  and  religion,  or  pious  duties,  were 
always  the  motives  of  their  institution. 

~v    ,  vr~  As  most  of  those  Games,  at  least  in  Greece, 

J.  ncy  weie  in- 

stituted    by  He-    jlacj  been  instituted  by  Heroes,  upon  important 
roes,  and  partici- 
pated by  all  class-    occasions,  they  made  no  scruples  to  enter   the 

e.s'  lists  themselves,  and  it  was  fabled  that  Saturn, 

Jupiter,  and  the  other  Gods,  had  formerly  disputed  the  victory. 
In  after  ages,  when  all  comers  were  permitted  to  enter  the  lists, 
these  sorts  of  exercises  were  divided:  the  grandees  and  kings 
themselves  appeared  there,  either  in  the  horse  or  chariot  races; 
while  the  less  noble  trials  of  skill,  such  as  wrestling,  fencing,  and 
others,  were  reserved  for  the  fiofiulace,  and  for  the  gladiators,  of 
whom  the  latter  held  the  last  rank  of  all,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  most  despicable. 

•-  Nothing,  in  short,  was  more   celebrated   in 

celebrated  in  Greece,  than  these  Games,  especially  those  of 
Greece.  Olymjria:  it  was  upon  these  that  the  whole  chro- 

nology of  Greece  rested,  and  its  principal  events 
were  dated  from  their  time  of  the  celebration.  The  Greeks  often 
made  the  Games  the  subjects  of  their  whole  conversation  and 
their  sole  employment;  and  as  they  were  celebrated  at  different 
times  and  in  different  places,  they  were  always  careful  to  be  pre- 
pared for  them.  Oftentimes  too  the  interval  from  one  Olympiad 
to  another,  that  is,  a  revolution  of  four  years,  was  not  sufficient 
for  that  effect.  Those  who  were  disposed  to  combat  therein,chose 
the  best  horses,  and  took  particular  care  of  the  beauty  and  light- 


540  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF  GAMES.  SEC.  VII. 

ness  of  their  chariots:  in  a  word,  these  Games  engaged  the  chief 
attention,  and  were  the  most  general  employment  of  the  people 
who  were  distinguished  either  by  their  birth,  or  by  their  actions, 
especially  among  the  youth.  Multitudes  flocked  to  them  not  only 
from  all  quarters  of  Greece,  but  aiso  from  the  neighbouring 
countries,  and  nothing  was  so  magnificent  as  those  sorts  of  as- 
semblies. 

•         What  made  the  Greeks  so  ardent  on  this  headj 
which  was  owing 
to   the    honours    was«  the   honour  that  accrued  to  the   conquer- 

conquers"  ^  °rS'  and  the  fame  which  they  acQuired  through 
=s^^=^==s  all  Gieet  e,  and  even  in  other  countries,  by  vic- 
tories gained  in  those  games;  they  were  distinguished  on  all  ob- 
casions,  and  had  every  where  the  most  honourable  places.  The 
greatest  poets  thought  it  their  honour  to  celebrate  those  victories, 
and  it  is  to  such  triumphs  we  owe  the  odes  of  PINDAR.  It  was 
not,  doubtless,  from  a  motive  of  avarice  that  those  competitors 
strove  to  carry  the  victory  from  one  another:  a  mere  wreath  of 
laurel,  olive,  poplar,  or  of  some  plant,  and  statues  raised  in  hon- 
our of  the  conquerors,  were  ail  the  rewards  allotted  to  them.  It 
is  true  other  marks  of  distinction  were  annexed  to  the  victory 
afterwards;  those  who  won  it  having  commonly  the  chief  places 
in  the  public  assemblies,  and  often  a  breach  was  made  in  the 
city  walls,  to  receive  as  in  triumph  those  conquered  at  Olympian 
but  still  it  is  certain  that  at  first  glory  was  the  sole  motive  that 
animated  those  who  entered  the  lists  in  those  Games.  I  say, 
avarice  was  not  the  usual  motive  of  the  combatants,  though  it 
may  have  been  so  in  the  funeral  Games,  where  the  prize  was 
cither  slaves,  or  moveables,  or  even  money;  but  these  Games 
were  commonly  celebrated  but  once. 

'•  Some  of  the  Games  were  reheated,  and  others 

Some  Games 

were     repeated,    occurred    only  once.     Of  this  last   description, 
others    occurred 
only  once- were  most  ot  \M6juneral  dames.    I  say  most  or 

them,  because  some,  though  funeral  in  their 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.  341 

SEC.   VII.  OF    GAMES. 

original,  became  jierfietual,  and  were  resumed  regularly  at  cer- 
tain times;  such  as  the  JVemean  Games,  instituted  on  occasion  of 
the  death  of  Achemorus,  with  some  others. — Of  those  that  were 
renewed,  there  were  several  classes;  1st,  some  whose  celebration 
was  fixed  and  stated,  which  was  therefore  called  Stativi;  2d} 
others  that  depended  upon  the  appointment  of  magistrates,  there- 
fore called  Indictivi;  3d,  others  that  were  the  consequence  of  a 
vow  made  on  important  occasions,  were  called  Votivi;  4th,  lastly, 
there  were  of  them,  annual,  triennial,  decennial,  secular,  &c.  All 
these  Games  had  their  particular  combats  and  ceremonies,  which 
made  up  the  Gymnastic  of  the  ancients. 

•  Under   three  Classes  were  included  all  the 

their    modes     of  .          r   i      /-.  /-  /-. 

exercise,  viz.,—      exercises  of  the  Games  of Greece    and   Rome, 

1  ;  viz.,  Races,  Combats,  and  Shows.  1st,  The  Races 
otherwise  denominated  Ludi  Equestres,  or  Cundes,  were  per- 
formed in  the  Circus  dedicated  to  the  Sun  or  to  Nefitune:  2d, 
The  Combats,  called  dgonales  or  Gymnici  (whence  the  name 
Gymnastic  was  derived;  which  was  also  employed  to  signify  all 
the  Games,)  consisted  of  combats,  wrestling,  and  other  feats, 
partly  of  men  and  partly  of  wild  beasts  trained  for  that  purpose, 
was  performed  in  the  Amphitheatre  consecrated  to  Mars  and  Di- 
ana: 3d,  The  Shows,  called  Scenici,  Poetici,  Musici,  consisted  of 
tragedies,  comedies,  and  satires,  that  were  represented  upon  the 
Theatre  in  honour  of  Bacchus,  Venus,  Afiollo,  and  Minerva,  The 
•vsord  Gymnastic  comes  from  a  Greek  word,  which  signifies  naked, 
because  it  was  in  that  unattired  condition  the  Athletes  fought,  at 
least  from  the  time  of  the  accident  that  befel  Orcijifius,  whose 
drawers  being  untied,  they  embarrassed  him,  and  hindered  his 
gaining  the  victory;  which  happened  in  the  thirty-second  Olym- 
piad.— The  different  sorts  of  exercises  embraced  in  the  above 
Classes  were  proper  for  the  display  of  strength,  agility,  and  ad- 
dress; and  when  not  carried  to  excess,  they  were  very  serviceable 
2  U 


342  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 


to  health.  OFFMAN,  in  his  dictionary,  makes  the  number  of  these 
exercises  amount  to  fifty -five ;  but  the  most  common  were  the 
race,  leaping^  the  dice  or  coif,  the  wrestling  match  or  fiancrace,  the 
javelin,  and  boxing  matches;  and  these  exercises  compose  what 
is  called  the  Pentathlum.  In  the  Scenic  Games  the  singing,  music, 
and  tragedies,  wherein  the  musicians  and  poets  disputed  the 
prize,  were  very  ancient,  since  mention  is  made  of  it  in  the 
Games  celebrated  by  the  Argonauts. 

•••••  I  said  the  Race  was  one  of  those  exercises, 

The  Itacc. 

and  I  add  it  was  either  on  foot  or  horseback,  or 


in  chariots  drawn  by  two  or  four  horses;  which  is  expressed  by 
the  words  Digx  or  Quadriga.     This  race  was  single  or  double: 
the  latter  consisted  in  running  over  the  Stadium  or  lists  twice, 
whence  it  was  called  Diaulus. 
—  ••  -  -        The  Coit  was  a  kind  of  square  implement, 

The  Coit. 

made  either  of  wood,  or  of  stone,  or  of  iron;  and 


the  victory  was  adjudged  to  him  who  threw  it  the  farthest.  The 
Coits  were  very  large  and  heavy,  and  sometimes  fatal  accidents 
happened  from  them:  it  was  with  a  blow  of  one  of  those  Coits 
that  Ajiollo  or  some  of  his  priests  slew  the  young  Hyacinth,  and 
Perseus  his  grandfather  Acrisiua. 

-  Boxing  was  a  match  fought  with  the  Cestus 

The  Gauntlet. 
i===^=^=^^^=    or  Gauntlet,  which  was  a  band  made  of  Ox's  hide. 

In  early  times,  the  leather  of  those  Gauntlets  was  softer,  and 
more  limber;  afterwards  it  was  of  a  harder  and  stouter  quality. 
The  combatants  covered  their  hands  with  them,  and  their  arms 
as  far  as  the  elbow,  by  means  of  several  straps;  and  with  those 
Gauntlets  they  dealt  to  one  another  such  terrible  blows,  that  they 
often  beat  out  each  other's  teeth,  and  crushed  their  jaws.— The 
Bebrycians  especially  excelled  in  this  gauntlet-fight:  accordingly 
VIRGIL,  in  the  description  of  Anchises's  funeral  Games,  feigns 
that  Entellus,  who  signalized  himself  in  this  combat,  came  from 
that  country;  as  it  is  said  of  Amy  cm,  in  the  history  of  the  Ar- 
gonauts. 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  34S 


OF   GAMES. 


Wrestling  consisted  in  a  combat  between  two 
•  persons,  hand  to  hand;  and  he  who  by  force  or 

address  overthrew  his  antagonist,  and  kept  him  down,  gained  the 
victory.  This  exercise  was  one  of  the  most  common,  and  was 
used  in  the  -heroic  age,  as  appears  from  the  combat  between 
Hercules  and  Ant&us.  The  wrestlers  besmeared  their  bodies  with 
oil,  the  more  easily  to  elude  their  adversaries,  and  they  tried  all 
the  feats  of  activity  they  were  masters  of,  to  obtain  the  victory. 
When  one  of  the  two  combatants  was  thrown  down,  he  strained 
his  utmost  to  get  up  again,  while  his  antagonist  held  him  by  the 
throat,  trod  upon  his  breast,  and  treated  him  with  all  possible  in- 
humanity. The  wrestling  match,  whether  simple  or  compound, 
was  called  the  Pancrace. 

======        Leaping-  was  performed  either  over  a  ditch,  or 

Leaping. 
.  some  determined  spot  of  ground,  or  in  jumping 


up  an  eminence:  thus  the  ancients  distinguished  several  sorts  of 
Leafiings  which  may  be  seen  in  MERCURIAHS.  It  is  sufficient  to 
observe,  that  he  who  leaped  best  and  farthest,  gained  the  prize. 

.     . .  -         The  Javelin  match  consisted  either  in  throw- 
The  Javelin. 
=====^=s^=    ing  a  stone,  or  a  dart,  or  some  other  things,  with 

the  most  address,  and  to  the  greatest  distance.  PLATO  admitted 
two  sorts  of  Jactitations,  if  I  may  use  this  term;  and  GALEN  in- 
forms us,  that  Apollo  and  Esculafiius  were  the  inventors  of  them. 
In  those  exercises  they  equally  employed  the  bow  or  a  sling,  or 
another  instrument,  which  they  made  use  of  for  hanging  to  the 
arrow,  a  thong  which  they  held  in  their  hand  to  take  the  more 
steady  aim. 

•~.    •  >        As  the  noblest  of  all  these  matches  was  the 

The  Gladiators. 

.  Race,   especially  when  it   was  performed    on 

horseback,  or  in  chariots;  so  the  most  despicable  was  that  of  the 
Gladiators,  who  fenced  for  life  and  death.  Their  common  weap- 
ons were  two  swords,  wherewith  they  sometimes  attacked  and 
defended  equally  with  both  hands,  and  then  they  were  called  Di~ 


j44  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  111. 


OF    GAMES. 


ii  from  an  old  Latin  word,  which  signifies  a  double  sword. 
Nothing  can  parallel  the  rage  with  which  these  combatants 
fought;  but  the  fury  which  actuated  the  Greeks  and  Romans  in 
seeing  them  batter  one  another  in  blood  and  wounds,  and  often 
kill  their  antagonists  in  the  middle  of  the  amphitheatre.  In  vain 
did  the  emperors  make  several  edicts  to  stop  this  fury;  they  were 
illy  obeyed,  and  hardly  was  this  combat  abolished  till  after  the  es- 
tablishment of  Christianity;  nor  even  then  was  it  laid  aside  at  the 
same  lime,  and  in  all  places  where  it  had  been  practised. 
.  For  each  celebration  of  Games,  judges  were 

cesTor  Judges^    chosen  to  decide  the  victory>  and  lhese  JudSes 
the  Games.  were  named  Hellanodices.  They  had  a  place  set 

apart  for  them,  where  they  might  view  and  judge 
best  of  the  advantage  which  one  combatant  had  over  the  other, 
and  from  their  decision  there  lay  no  appeal.  The  number  of  these 
judges,  especially  at  Olymfiia,  was  not  always  the  same:  Ijihitust 
the  restorer  of  the  Games  that  were  celebrated  there,  would 
needs  be  the  sole  judge  of  them;  and  Oxilus^  as  well  as  his  suc- 
cessors, retained  the  same  privilege.  In  later  times,  the  number 
of  these  judges  increased  to  twelve,  and  there  were  several 
changes  in  this  matter,  as  may  be  seen  in  PAUSAXIAS. 

LUCIAN  fell  upon  a  very  ingenious  contriv- 
ance?  to  expose  the  fury  and  infatuation  of  most 
of  these  combats  by  introducing  the  Scythian 
thus  discoursing  of  them  to  Solon:  "  What  would 
these  young  people  be  at  by  putting  themselves  into  a  rage;  by 
tripping  up  one  another's  heels;  and  tumbling  together  in  the 
dirt  like  so  many  swine;  striung  to  stifle  and  stop  one  another's 
breath?  They  anoint  their  bodies,  and  shave  one  another,  at  first, 
in  a  peaceable  enough  manner;  but  all  of  a  sudden  sinking  their 
heads,  they  run  against  one  another  like  rams;  then  the  one  lift- 
ing up  his  companion,  lets  him  fall  to  the  ground  with  a  violent 
stroke,  and  throwing  himself  upon  him,  hinders  him  from  rising, 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  345 

SEC.  VII.  OF   GAMES. 

pressing  his  throat  with  his  elbow,  and  squeezing  him  to  the 
earth  with  his  knees,  insomi.ch  that  I  am  in  terror  lest  he  stifle 
him,  though  the  other  taps  him  on  the  shoulder,  praying  to  be 
released,  as  acknowledging  himself  vanquished.  How  absurd  is 
it  that  they  should  first  anoint  themselves  with  oil,  and  then  roll 
in  the  dirt!  For  my  part,  I  cannot  help  smiling  to  see  them  mock 
the  grasp  of  their  companion^  and  glide  away  like  eels  from  the 
hand  that  holds  them:  Some  of  them,  nevertheless,  roll  them- 
selves in  the  sand  like  pullets,  before  they  engage,  that  the  hands 
of  their  antagonists  may  get  the  better  hold,  and  not  slip  with  the 
oil  and  sweat.  Others,  in  like  manner,  overspread  with  dust,  be- 
labour one  another  with  blows  of  fret  and  fata,  without  striving, 
like  the  first,  to  overthrow  one  another;  one  spits  out  his  teeth 
with  the  sand,  from  a  blow  he  has  received  in  the  jaws,  while 
that  man  clad  in  purple,  who  presides  at  these  exercises,  gives 
himself  no  trouble  to  part"  them.  Some  make  the  dust  fly  about 
them  as  they  jump  and  spring  in  the  air,  like  those  who  dispute 
the  prize  in  the  race,  &c." 

"  The  combats  and  other  exercises  that  were 

Some  exercises 
required     more,    exhibited  in  these  Games  were  very  different; 

lessVound"'re  l  sonie  reflviiling  more,  and  some  less  ground. 
•  There  were  places  built  on  purpose  for  the  cel- 

ebration of  them,  whose  spaciousness  and  convenience  answer- 
ed to  their  magnificence,  and  to  the  ornaments  that  were  laid  out 
upon  them;  and  these  places,  though  destined  for  the  same  ex- 
ercises, had  not  every  where  the  same  form,  nor  did  they  bear 
the  same  name. 

1  In  the  earlier  ages,  when  simplicity  reigned, 

in  the  earlier  ages     .  _ 

they    were    per-    !t  appears,  that  for  the  Games,  at  least  for  those 

formed    in     the    t^at  were  ce]ebrated  but  once,  they  contented 

open  fields; — 

=^===    themselves  with  choosing,  in  the  open  fields,  a 

commodious  place  for  the  exercises  that  were  to  be  there  per- 
formed. Thus  Achilles  did,  for  the  celebration  of  Fatroclus's  fu- 


346  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 


OF  GAMES. 


neral  Games:  and  JEneas  for  the  anniversary  of  his  father;  for 
which  no  other  preparations  were  made,  but  to  measure  the  space 
of  ground  that  was  to  be  taken  up,  make  it  clean,  and  place  boun- 
daries to  it.  Adrastus  and  the  other  chiefs  who  instituted  the  Ne- 
mean  Games,  made  no  other  provision  for  them,  though  they  de- 
signed to  have  them  represented  at  stated  times. 

======         But  afterwards  proper  places  were  prepared, 

but  afterwards,  in  ....  .  .         ,. 

appropriate    pla-    especially  in  great  cities,  tor  celebrating  them 

ces,  wherein  con-    w;tn  ajj  possible  magnificence,  and  these  places 

venient        struc- 

tures were  raised.     bore  different  names.  At  Pisa,  the  place  allotted 

"  for  the  Olympic  Games  was  called  the  Stadium: 
at  Rome  it  was  the  Circus,  and  at  Constantinople  the  Hififiodro- 
mos.  As  the  races,  whether  on  foot  or  horseback,  or  in  chariots, 
required  a  considerable  space  of  ground,  these  places  were  am- 
ply spacious  and  of  greater  length  than  breadth,  such  as  they 
ought  to  have  been  for  the  races  there  performed.  For  the  Sce- 
nic Games  they  had  public  theatres;  and  for  the  fencing  matches 
and  the  gladiators,  whether  against  one  another,  or  against  wild 
beasts,  there  were  structures  raised  on  purpose,  that  were  called 
Areas,  Colisees,  Sec.  And  in  both  the  one  and  the  other,  care  was 
taken  to  provide  a  vast  number  of  lodges,  and  other  places,  to 
which  they  got  up  by  little  stairs  contrived  in  the  thickness  of 
the  walls.  These  places  were  allotted  for  persons  of  different 
stations.  The  concourse  of  people  that  frequented  them  was  very 
great,  for  the  Greeks  and  Romans  loved  those  kinds  of  shows; 
the  last  especially  admired  those  of  the  gladiators,  with  a  fury 
not  easy  to  be  expressed.  In  those  edifices  wherein  animals  were 
combatted,  there  were  cells  contrived  below  wherein  the  animals 
were  shut  up,  and  which  opened  by  means  of  a  sliding  door  which 
drew  up  when  they  were  to  be  lei  out  upon  the  Amphitheatre, 
where  those  who  were  to  fight  with  them  stood  ready  to  receive 
them.  Great  pains  were  taken  to  proucle  the  fiercest  and  at  the 
same  time  the  rarest  animals,  and  sometimes  they  were  brought 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  347 

SEC.  VII.  OF  GAMES. 

from  the  extremity  of  Africa,  at  extraordinary  expense.  As  sea- 
fights  were  sometimes  exhibited  in  some  of  those  places,  water 
was  conveyed  into  them  in  so  great  plenty,  and  the  space  that 
contained  it  was  so  large,  that  several  gallies  plied  there  with 
ease;  and  a  real  naval  engagement  was  represented  there  with  all 
possible  exactness. — Antiquaries  have  taken  great  care  to  give 
us  drafts  of  those  edifices:   Onuphrius  Panvinus  especially  has 
preserved  to  us  those  of  rhe  Circus  of  Rome,  of  the  Hififiodrome, 
and  several  others.  There  are  even  some  of  them  still  remaining 
in  that  city,  and  some  others,  which  time  has  not  destroyed;  such 
as  the  Amfihitheatres  of  Nismes,  those  of  Orange,  and  several 
others;  but  nothing  gives  a  higher  idea  of  the  magnificence  of 
those  monuments,  than  the  remains  of  the  Colisee  that  is  still  to 
be  seen  at  Rome,  and  which  has  something  in  it  that  strikes  with 
astonishment,  though  one  of  the  popes  of  the  past  age  destroyed 
a  great  part  of  it  in  order  to  build  a  stately  palace. 
======        HYGINUS  names  fifteen  founders  of  Games, 

ers  of  the  games"    unt^  -^neas,    who   was  the  fifteenth;    but  the 
=====    names  of  the  four  first  are  not  now  to  be  found, 

neither  in  the  manuscripts  of  that  author,  nor  in  the  printed  co- 
pies; while  neither  KUNIUS  nor  his  other  commentators  have 
given  themselves  the  trouble-  to  fill  up  this  blank.  This  chapter 
of  HYGINUS  begins  therefore  with  thejifth  founder  of  Games,  as 
follows: — 5th,  Danaus,  says  he,  the  son  of  Belus,  instituted  Games 
at  Argos  in  honour  of  the  marriage  of  his  fifteen  daughters;  and 
as  efiithalamiums  were  sung  there,  (for  those  Games  consisted  of 
no  other  trials  of  skill  but  those  of  music,}  they  got  the  name  of 
Hymenean  Games — 6th,  Lyndus  his  son-in-law,  one  of  the  sons 
of  Egyptus,  whom  our  author  makes  the  sixth,  founded  one  of 
them  in  the  same  city,*  in  honour  of  Juno  Argian.  The  conque- 
rors in  those  Games,  instead  of  a  crown,  received  a  buckler,  be- 
cause Lynceus  having  escaped  the  general  massacre  of  the  other 
sons  of  Egyptus,  took  from  the  temple  of  that  Goddess  the  buck- 


348  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF  GAMES.  SEC.  VII. 

ler  which  JDanaus  had  consecrated  there,  to  give  it  to  his  son 
Aba8)  who  had  it  after  the  death  of  his  grand  father.  These 
Games  were  renewed  at  stated  times. — 7th,  The  seventh  found- 
er, according  to  the  same  author,  was  Perseus,  who  solemnized 
them  at  the  funerals  of  Polydectcs,  who  had  taken  care  of  his 
education;  and  Perseus,  combating  there  himself,  had  the  misfor- 
tune to  slay  his  grandfather  Acrisius,  with  the  blow  of  a  coit. — 
8th,  The  eighth  was  Hercules,  who  instituted  the  Gymnic  Games 
at  Olympia,  in  honour  of  Pelofis,  the  son  of  Tantalus;  and  this 
hero  won  the  prize  there  of  the  Pancratia,  that  is  according  to 
ARISTOTLE,  of  the  boxing  and  wrestling  matches,  or  to  speak 
more  accurately,  of  the  single  wrestling,  and  the  compound  wrest- 
ling.— 9th,  The  seven  chieftains  who  led  the  army  to  Thebes, 
instituted  the  JVemean  Games,  in  honour  of  Archemorus,  the  son 
of  Lycurgus  and  Eurydice,  and  they  are  reckoned  by  HYGINUS 
the  ninth  founder — 10th,  Eratocles,  or  rather  Theseus,  who  in- 
stituted Games  in  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth,  in  honour  of  Melicerta 
the  son  of  Athamas  and  Ino,  which  got  the  name  of  Isthmic:  the 
two  last  were  renewed  also  at  stated  times. —  1 1th,  The  Argonauts^ 
whom  the  same  author  reckons  the  eleventh,  celebra'ted  funeral 
Games,  in  honour  of  Cyzicus,  whom  Jason  had  slain  by  accident: 
jumping,  wrestling,  and  throwing  the  javelin,  were  the  three 
combats  there  exhibited  —  12ih,  Acastus  the  son  of  Pelias,  after 
the  return  of  the  Argonauts,  appointed  the  celebration  of  fune- 
rals in  honour  of  his  father,  where  most  of  those  heroes  disputed 
the  prize.  Zethus  the  son  of  Aquilo,  was  conqueror  there,  as  also 
Calais  his  brother,  in  the  diaulus  or  double  course;  Castor  in  that 
of  the  stadium,  and  Pollux  his  brother  in  the  gauntlet  fight;  7>/a- 
mon  in  that  of  the  coit;  Pelius  in  the  wrestling  match;  Hercules 
in  all  the  combats;  M.-leager  in  that  of  the  javelin;  Cygnus  the 
son  of  Mars  slew  therein  the  son  of  Diodotus  in  a  desperate 
fight;  Bellerofihon  was  victorious  in  the  horse-race;  lolaus  the 
son  of  Tphiclus,  in  the  chariot-race,  where  he  outstripped  Glau- 


CHAP.  Ill  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  349 


OF    GAMES. 


cus  the  son  of  Sisyphus,  whose  horse  became  unmanageable. 
JEurithus  the  son  of  Mercury,  gained  the  victory  in  shooting  the 
bow;  Cephalus  in  singing;  Olympus,  the  disciple  of  Marsyas,  in 
blowing  the  trumpet;  Orpheus  the  son  of  Oeagrus,  gained  the 
prize  of  the  harp;  Linus,  the  son  of  Apollo,  that  of  singing;  Eu* 
molpus  that  of  the  -voice  in  concert  with  the  trumpet.  These  Games 
as  we  may  easily  see,  were  very  solemn,  and  almost  all  sorts  of 
trials  of  skill  were  exhibited  therein,  which  were  frequently  but 
partial  in  most  of  the  other  Games. —  13ih,  Priam  is  the  thir- 
teenth, who  after  having  exposed  his  son  Paris,  appointed  Games 
to  be  celebrated  several  years  after,  near  a  cenotaph  which  he 
had  raised  in  honour  of  him,  wherein  contended  JVeleua  the  son 
of  Nereus;  Helenus,  Deiphobus,  and  Polytesus,  three  sons  of  Pri- 
am; Telephus,  the  son  of  Hercules;  Cygnns,  Sarpedon,  and  Pa- 
ris himself,  who  having  vanquished  his  brothers,  was  acknow- 
ledged by  his  father. —  14th,  Achilles  is  the  fourteenth  in  this  list, 
who  celebrated  funeral  Games,  in  honour  of  Patroclus,  which 
were  so  elegantly  described  in  the  twenty-fourth  book  of  the 
Iliad. —  15th,  In  fine,  JEneas\'s>  the  last,  who  celebrated  games  at 
the  court  of  Acestes  his  host,  in  honour  of  Anchises  his  father, 
dead  a  year  before,  for  which  I  refer  to  the  fifth  book  of  the 
JEneid. — As  HVGIXUS  makes  no  mention  of  the  Pythian  Games, 
celebrated  in  honour  of  Apollo,  nor  of  some  others  of  much 
the  same  antiquity,  I  make  no  doubt  but  that  their  institutors 
were  those  whom  he  had  mentioned  in  the  part  of  that  chapter 
which  is  lost.— Having  given  a  general  idea  of  those  Games,  and 
of  the  exercises  that  were  therein  performed,  I  shall  be  some- 
what more  particular  upon  the  chief  of  them;  those  especially 
that  were  instituted  by  the  Greeks.  I  begin  with  the  Olympic 
Games,  as  the  most  celebrated,  and  perhaps  the  most  ancient  of 
Greece:  not  that  the  time  of  their  institution  is  precisely  known, 
there  being  a  diversity  of  opinions  as  to  this  point  among  the 
ancients.  2  X 


SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  Ill, 

OF   GAMES.  SEC.  VII. 

GRECIAN    GAMBS. 
\»t,  The  Olympic  Games. 

PAUSANIAS,  who  seems  to  have  been  at  parti- 
cular pains  to  get  information  in  his  travels 
through  Greece,  of  whatever  related  to  this  so- 
lemnity, says,  "  as  for  the  Games  of  Greece,  this  is  what  I  have 
learned  concerning  them  from  some  Eleans,  who  appeared  tome 
profoundly  skilled  in  the  study  of  antiquity.  According  to  them, 
Saturn  is  the  first  who  reigned  in  heaven,  and  in  the  golden  age 
he  had  a  temple  at  Olympia.  Jupiter  being  born,  Kfiea,  his  mo- 
ther, committed  the  education  of  him  to  the  Dactyli,  or  Curetes 
of  mount  Ida.  These  Dactyli  came  afterwards  from  Crete  to  Elis, 
for  this  mount  Ida  is  in  Crete.  They  were  five  brothers,  name- 
ly, Hercules,  Peoneus,  Epimedes,  Jasius,  and  Ida.  Hercules,  as  be- 
ing the  eldest,  proposed  to  his  brothers  a  running  match,  where1- 
of  the  prize  was  to  be  a  crown  of  olive;  for  the  olive  was  so  com- 
mon, that  they  took  the  leaves  of  it  to  strew  the  ground,  and  to 
sleep  upon;  and  Hercules  was  the  first  who  brought  that  tree  into 
Greece,  from  among  the  Hyperboreans.  It  was  therefore  Hercu- 
lc»  of  mount  Ida,  who  had  the  honour  of  inventing  these  Games, 
and  gave  them  the  name  of  Olympian;  and  because  he  was  one 
of  five  brothers,  he  would  have  these  Games  celebrated  every 
f.f'h  year.  Some  say  that  Jupiter  and  Saturn  fought  a  wrestling 
mutch  in  Olympia,  and  that  the  empire  of  the  world  was  the 
prize  of  the  victor:  others  allege,  that  Jupiter  having  triumphed 
over  the  Titans,  instituted  these  Games  himself,  wherein  Jlpollo, 
among  others,  signalized  his  address,  and  won  the  prize  of  the 
race  from  Mercury,  and  that  of  boxing  from  Mars." 

We  must  not  imagine  that  these  Games,  from 
their  first  institution,  were  celebrated  continu- 

final      establish-    ec]jy:  t|iey  vvere  oftcn  interrupted,  for  several 
merit. 

considerable  intervals,  and  renewed  again,  till  at 


CHAP.  m.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.  551 

SEC.  VII.  OF    GAMES. 

last  they  assumed  a  fixed  and  durable  form;  their  celebration  re- 
turning regularly  every  four  years,  that  is,  in  the  first  month  of 
the  jfifth  year.  The  author  now  cited  will  instruct  us  in  these  in- 
terruptions and  re-establishments.  During  one  of  these  interrup- 
tions Greece  groaned  under  the  oppression  of  intestine  wars,  and 
was  at  the  same  time  laid  waste  by  pestilence.  Iphitus  weru  to 
Delphos,  to  consult  the  oracle  about  these  pressing  calamites, 
and  the  response  given  him  by  the  Pythia,  was  that  the  renewal 
of  the  Olympic  Games  would  be  the  safety  of  Greece;  that  he 
and  his  Cleans  should  therefore  set  about  it.  I/ikitus  foithv.vh 
ordered  a  sacrifice  to  Hercules  to  appease  that  God,  and  then  cel- 
ebrated the  Games.— These  Games  were  again  interrupted  for 
the  space  of  86  years;  they  then  were  resumed,  and  it  was  at  this 
first  Olympiad  that  Corf  bus  gained  the  prize  of  the  race.  This 
victory  is  the  more  remarkable  in  antiquity,  as  it  was  by  this  same 
celebration  the  reckoning  by  Olympiads  began,  which  were  no 
longer  interrupted  afterwards;  which  event  happened  1776  years 
before  JESUS  CHRIST;  a  famous  aera  among  the  Greeks,  though 
to  speak  accurately,  they  never  used  Olympiads  for  computing 
time,  till  about  50  years  before  Alexander  the-  Great.  But  com- 
mencing with  the  Olympiad  of  Corxbusj  these  Games  served  for 
an  important  aera  to  all  Greece,  in  contradistinction  to  all  other 
Games,  which  were  afterwards  used  for  computing  time  in  coun- 
tries where  they  were  celebrated,  as  was  the  Olympiad  through- 
out Greece:  thus  the  inhabitants  of  Delphos,  and  the  Boeotians, 
employed  in  their  chronology  the  Pythian  Games;  those  of  the 
Isthmus  and  the  Corinthians  computed  their  years  by  the  celebra- 
tions of  the  Isthmic  Games;  and  the  Argives  and  the  Arcadians, 
for  this  purpose,  made  use  of  the  JVewean  Games;  for  I  find  none 
but  these  four  Games^  whose  celebration  served  the  Greeks  in 
computing  time. 


352  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 


OF    GAMES. 


•  The  Olympic  Games,  which  were  celebrated 

place  of  their  eel-  ab°ut  the  summer-solstice,  lasted  five  days;  for 
ebration.  a  single  day  would  not  have  sufficed  for  all  the 

trials  of  skill  that  were  exhibited  there.  As  they 
•were  consecrated  to  Jupiter,  and  made  part  of  the  religious  cere- 
monies of  Paganism,  the  first  day  was  destined  for  the  sacrifices, 
the  second  for  the  Pentathlum  and  the  foot-race,  the  third  for  the 
combat  of  the  Pancrace,  and  the  simple  wrestling  match;  the 
other  two  days,  for  the  horse  and  chariot  races. — The  place 
where  these  Games  were  exhibited  was  called  the  Stadium;  it 
was  a  space  of  six  hundred  paces,  inclosed  with  walls,  near  the 
city  Elis  and  the  river  dlfiheus,  and  was  adorned  with  proper  em- 
bellishments. But  being  necessitated  to  take  up  with  ground  which 
was  uneven,  the  Stadium  was  very  irregular. 

••  The  Stadium  consisted  of  two  parts:  the  first 

The    parts    of 
the  Stadium,- whose  figure  pretty  much  resembles  the  prow 

the  race*6™  ^  °f  a  ship'  WaS  Called  the  Barricr:  there'  were 
======  the  stables  and  coach-houses  where  the  horses 

and  chariots  were  kept,  and  where  they  were  matched.  The  se- 
cond was  called  the  Lists,  and  it  was  within  the  space  of  ground 
it  contained  that  the  races  were  performed,  whether  on  horse- 
back or  in  chariots.  At  the  extremity  of  the  Lists  was  the  goal, 
round  which  they  were  to  turn;  and  as  he  who  approached  it  the 
nearest,  formed  a  shorter  circle,  he  was  sure,  all  things  else  be- 
ing equal,  to  come  in  sooner  to  the  place  he  sat  out.  It  was  in 
this  chiefly  consisted  the  address  of  those  who  guided  the  cha- 
riots, and  wherein  at  the  same  time  they  ran  the  greatest  hazard. 
For  besides  the  danger  there  was  of  encountering  with  another 
chariot;  if  they  happened  to  touch  the  goal,  the  axle-tree  broke 
into  many  pieces,  or  received  at  least  some  fatal  blow,  of  which 
they  could  not  recover.  Beyond  this  goal  was  another  occasion 
of  danger,  I  mean  the  figure  of  the  Genius  Taraxififius,  which 


CHAP.  HI.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY. 

SEC.   VII.  OF  GAMES. 

was  framed  after  such  a  fashion  as  to  fiighten  the  horses.  We 
cannot  determine  whether  it  was  placed  there  of  purpose  to  aug- 
ment the  danger  of  the  race,  or  if  out  of  respect  to  that  Genius, 
it  had  been  left  to  stand  there,  as  it  had  done  before  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Stadium;  but  still  this  is  certain,  that  it  was  a  place  of 
very  great  danger.  On  both  sides  of  the  Lists,  through  their 
whole  length,  were  the  places  for  the  spectators.  The  principal 
ones  were  for  the  Judg<  s  and  persons  of  distinction;  the  popu- 
lace, who  flocked  thither  in  crowds,  planted  themselves  wherever 
they  could;  for  nothing  equalled  the  curiosity  they  had  for  these 
exercises. — I  shall  add,  that  from  the  Barrier  the  chariots  en- 
tered the  Lists;  and  that  these  two  places  were  separated  by  a 
rope,  which  was  let  down  by  a  kind  of  mechanism,  as  the  signal 
that  gave  notice  to  enter  the  Lists.  As  the  athletes  or  wrestlers 
fought  naked  in  those  games,  at  least  ever  since  the  accident  I 
have  mentioned,  matrons  and  maids  were  prohibited,  under  pain 
of  death,  to  be  present  there,  and  even  to  pass  the  Alpheus  dur- 
ing the  whole  time  of  their  celebration;  and  this  prohibition,  as 
the  inhabitants  of  the  country  told  PAUSANIAS,  was  so  punctually- 
observed,  that  there  never  was  an  instance  of  any  but  one  wo- 
man's violating  that  law.  This  woman  whom  some  call  Callifia- 
tria,  and  others  Phi-venia,  Leing  a  widow,  dressed  herself  after 
the  fashion  of  the  masters  of  the  exercises,  and  conducted  her 
own  son  Pisidorus  to  Olympia.  The  young  man  having  been  de- 
clared conqueror,  the  mother  was  so  transported  with  joy,  that 
she  threw  aside  her  man's  habit,  and  jumped  over  the  Barrier 
where  she  had  been  placed  with  the  other  masters,  and  discover- 
ed her  sex.  However,  she  was  pardoned  for  this  infringement  of 
the  law,  out  of  regard  to  her  father,  her  brothers,  and  son,  who 
had  all  been  crowned.at  the  same  games;  but  from  that  time  the 
masters  of  the  exercises  were  forbid  to  appear  otherwise  than 
naked  at  these  shows.  The  punishment  imposed  by  the  law,  was 


5J4  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF  GAMES.  SEC.  VII. 

to  throw  the  women  who  durst  infringe  it,  headlong  from  a  very 
steep  rock  which  was  called  mount  Tijfihxa,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Alplvus. 

•=•-•'  ••'•        The  men  were  also  prohibited,  under  pain  of 

The  combatants 
prohibited      the    a  considerable  fine,  to  use  the  least  fraud  towards 

punishment?""1  *  Sainin§  the  victory;  but  neither  laws  nor  penal- 
1  ties  are  always  a  curb  sufficient  to  confine  ambi- 

tion within  due  bounds.  There  were  tricks  committed;  and  the 
severe  punishments  inflicted  upon  them  did  not  deter  others  from 
falling  now  and  then  into  the  same  faults.  There  were,  says  PAU- 
SANIAS,  in  the  way  from  the  temple  of  the  mother  of  the  Gods 
to  the  Stadium*  six  statues  of  Jupiter,  all  of  bronze,  which  had 
been  made  of  the  produce  of  the  fines  to  which  wrestlers  had 
been  condemned,  who  had  used  fraud  to  win  the  prize,  as  was 
signified  by  the  inscriptions  in  elegiac  verse  that  were  inserted 
there.  The  verses  inscribed  upon  the  first,  proclaim  that  the 
prize  of  the  Olympic  Games  was  gained,  not  by  money,  but  by 
swiftness  of  foot,  and  strength  of  body.  Those  of  the  second 
stated,  that  this  statue  had  been  erected  by  Jupiter  to  inspire  the 
combatants  with  dread  of  the  vengeance  of  that  God,  if  they 
durst  violate  the  laws  prescribed  to  them;  and  it  was  much  the 
same  as  to  the  rest. — Eumolpus  the  Thessalian  is  thought  to  be 
the  first  "who  bribed  with  money  those  who  offered  themselves 
with  him  to  the  gauntlet  fight;  he  was  punished  for  having  given 
this  money,  and  those  to  whom  he  had  given  it,  for  having  re- 
ceived it.  Though  nothing  was  more  infamous  than  this  fine,  and 
the  monuments  which  I  have  mentioned,  yet  there  was  an  Athe- 
nian named  Calli/ius,  who  bought  the  prize  of  the  Pentathlum. 
He  was  condemned  to  the  fine;  and  Hiperides,  the  deputy  for 
Athens,  having  solicited  his  pardon,  and  not  being  able  to  obtain 
it,  the  Athenians  forbid  the  offender  to  pay  the  fine;  but  the  Eli- 
ans,  firm  to  the  maintenance  of  their  laws,  excluded  them  from 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY. 

SEC.   VII.  OF  GAMES. 

the  Games;  and  this  interdiction  lasted  till  upon  their  consulting 
the  oracle  of  Delphos,  the  priestess  declared  she  had  no  answer 
to  give  them  till  they  had  made  satisfaction  to  the  Eleans.  Upon 
this  the  Athenians  submitted  to  the  fine,  whereof  the  produce 
was  employed  in  consecrating  to  Jupiter  six  other  statues,  with 
inscriptions  containing  their  history. 

=======         The  prodigious  concourse  of  people  which 

The  concourse  .  .       .          ,.    ,  _ , 

to      see      these    "ie  celebration  ot  those  viames  drew  to  Olym- 

Ganes   enriched    ^a    enriched  that  city  and  all  Elis:  accordingly 

the  city  &  state.      ' 

•     •  •  "  nothing  in  all  Greece    was   comparable   to  the 

temple  and  statue  of  Olympian  Jupiter.  About  this  ten. pie  was  a 
sacred  grove,  named  Altis,  wherein  besides  the  chapels,  altars, 
and  other  monuments  consecrated  to  the  Gods,  and  whereof  we 
have  a  very  full  description  in  the  author  I  have  so  often  quoted, 
were  statues,  all  by  the  hand  of  the  most  celebrated  sculptors, 
erected  in  honour  of  those  who  had  won  the  prizes  in  these 
Games;  a  valuable  reward,  which  added  to  the  laurel  crown 
wherewith  they  had  their  heads  incircled  in  presence  of  all  the 
grandees  and  persons  of  distinction  in  Greece,  and  the  honour 
done  them  by  the  cities  in  receiving  them,  were  very  capable  to 
support  that  ardour  for  victory  which  animated  the  combatants. 

.     -'  ••         We  may  remark,  before  we  close  this  article, 
The    descend-  r   TT  , 

ants     of    Helen,    tna*  the  descendants  ot  rit-len  having  formed  a 

only,  to  dispute    prO(ii»ious  number  of  families  in  Greece,  be- 

the  prizes. 

======    came  so  powerful,  and  gained  therein  so  much 

interest,  that  they  made  a  law  be  passed,  ordaining  that  none  but 
those  who  derived  their  origin  from  those  families  should  be 
capable  of  being  admitted  to  dispute  the  prizes  at  the  Olympic 
Games;  and  HERODOTUS  informs  us  to  this  purpose,  that  Alex- 
ander the  Great  himself  was  obliged  to  prove  his  being  one  of  the 
Hellenes')  before  he  was  received  to  enter  the  lists  in  those  Games. 
But  the  consequences  of  this  was  that  all  the  Greeks  made  it  out 
tV1?*  thev  'veve  sprung  from  some  one  of  those  families;  so  nu- 


356  SUPERSTITIONS  OF    IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 



OF    GAMES.  SEC     VII. 

merous  and  diffused  had  they  been  in  all  the  country;  and  from 
that  time  the  nan  e  of  Hellenes,  peculiar  to  a  particular  people, 
became  the  general  name  of  all  the  Greeks. — I  have  insisted  at 
some  length  upon  the  celebration  of  these  Games;  but  as  they 
were  at  the  same  time,  as  has  been  said,  the  most  ancient  and 
most  solemn  of  Greece;  and  as  much  the  same  laws  and  regula- 
tions were  observed  in  the  rest;  much  the  same  exercises;  crowns 
for  reward;  and  as  the  judges,  and  combatants  who  celebrated 
them,  were  bound  by  oath  to  submit  10  certain  laws — I  though-lit 
was  necessary  to  give  a  full  account  of  them;  which  shall  answer 
in  a  great  measure  for  the  rest. 

2c?,  The  Pythic  Games. 

It  is  certain  that  the  overthrow  of  the  serpent 

The   origin  of 
these  Games.  Python  gave  rise  to  the  institution  of  the  Pythic 

"  Games;    but  it  is  uncertain  at  what   time  they 

were  instituted  or  who  was  their  founder;  for  when  PAUSANIAS 
gives  the  honour  thereof  to  Diomedes,  who  upon  his  return  from 
Troy  built  a  Temple  in  honour  of  sfpollo  jK/iibatertut,  1  am  per- 
suaded he  is  mistaken,  since  their  institution  was  a  long  while 
before  the  time  when  that  heio  lived.  What  may  be  said  with 
more  probability  upon  this  subject  is,  that  he  established  in  the 
place  where  he  erected  the  temple  just  mentioned,  the  same 
Games  that  had  been  celebrated  long  before  at  Dtljihos. 

==========         At  first  these  Games  consisted  only  in  sing- 

The  earlier  ex-     . 
ercises  and   dis-    ing  and  music  matches,  as  the  same  PAUSANIAS 

Game?  "*  theSC  obs>erves>  and  consequently  it  would  seem  that 
• — —  they  had  been  instituted  only  for  celebrating  the 
praises  of  the  God  who  had  delivered  the  earth  from  a  monster 
that  threatened  it  with  desolation.  The  other  exercises  were  not 
admitted  there  till  afterwards.  It  is  sufficiently  plain  in  fact  that 
the  thing  was  so,  from  those  who.  disputed  there  the  first  prizes, 
since  in  the  first  representation  Chnjsolhemis  of  Crete  gained  the 
victory,  and  next  Thamyris  the  son  of  Philauimon.  What  is  sin- 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.  357 

SEC.  VII.  OF    GAMES. 

gular  in  this,  considering  the  veneration  that  was  generally  enter- 
tained for  all  those  Games  which  religion  had  consecrated,  and 
which  were  especially  dedicated  to  some  Divinity,  is,  that  neither 
Orfiheus,  who  was  distinguished  by  his  deep  wisdom  and  pro- 
found knowledge  of  the  mysteries,  nor  Musteus,  would  ever  con- 
descend to  dispute  the  prizes  of  the  Pythic  Games.  One  Eleu- 
therus  was  crowned  there,  merely  upon  account  of  his  fine  voice, 
for  the  hymn  he  sung  was  not  his  own.  We  are  told  that  Hesiod 
was  not  admitted  to  dispute  there  for  the  prize,  because  he  could 
not  sing  in  concert  with  the  lyre.  As  for  Homer,  we  read  that  he 
went  to  Delphos;  but  that  being  blind,  he  had  made  but  little  use 
of  his  talent  of  singing  and  playing  upon  the  lyre  in  concert.  The 
painters  too  were  admitted  there  to  dispute  the  prize,  and  Tima- 
gorus  was  preferred  to  Peneus  the  brother  of  Phidias. 

Other  exercises  *n  ^ater  ^mes  cnanges  were  introduced  into 

afterwards  intro-  these  Games.  In  the  third  year  of  the  forty-eighth 
cluced. 

=======^=;^^  Olympiad,  the  Amfihictyons,  leaving  the  prize  of 

music  and  poetry  'still  to  subsist,  added  two  others  to  them,  the 
first  for  those  who  sung  in  concert  with  the  flute,  the  other  for 
those  who  played  upon  the  flute  alone:  at  length  the  same  com- 
bats and  exercises  were  admitted  at  those  Games  as  at  the  Olym- 
pic. The  race  in  chariots  drawn  by  four  horses,  after  having  been 
a  long  time  excluded,  was  introduced  thither  in  the  time  of  Ores- 
tes, Even  children  were  by  an  express  law  admitted  at  the  races 
both  of  the  single  and  double  Stadium.  Immediately  after,  that  is, 
in  the  Pythiad  next  after  that  wherein  children  were  permitted 
to  run,  the  prize  was  abolished,  and  it  was  regulated  that  the  con- 
querors there  should  only  have  crowns,  as  in  the  other  Games  of 
Greece.  By  this  it  appears  that  there  was  anciently  a  prize  in 
money,  or  clothes,  8cc.,  as  at  the  funeral  games  of  Patroclus^  but 
wherein  it  precisely  consisted  is  more  than  we  can  determine. 
From  these  Games  they  retrenched  afterwards  the  singing,  along 
2  Y 


Sa8  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF  GAMES.  SEC.  VII. 

with  the  flute,  because  there  was  something  mournful  in  them 
which  suited  only  with  elegies;  but  chariot  races  with  four  horses 
\vere  admitted  in  their  stead;  and  Clisthenes^  the  same  who  after- 
wards became  the  tyrant  of  Sicyon,  was  crowned  at  the  first  of  those 
races.  To  these  and  some  other  exercises  which  PAUSANIAS  men- 
tions, the  Pancrace  was  added  at  the  last,  in  the  61st  Pyttitad, 
wherein  Laidus  of  Thebes  gained  the  victory.  The  laurel  crown 
was  at  first  the  sole  reward  of  the  conquerors,  and  the  branches 
of  this  tree  were  preferred  to  those  of  others,  from  a  prevailing 
opinion  that  jljiollo  had  been  in  love  with  Dafihne.  Afterwards  a 
reward  was  given  in  money,  even  in  the  places  where  the  use  of 
ciowns  prevailed. 

.   ,      '        To  conclude,  we  may  observe  that,  anciently, 
The  period  for 
celebrating  these    these  Games  were  celebrated  only  every  eighth 

'a  7/car,  but  afterwards  once  in  four  years;  and  they 

Served  for  an  ara  to  the  inhabitants  of  Del/i/ios,  and  the  neigh- 
bourhood. The  time  of  their  celebration,  according  to  DIODORUS 
SICULUS,  PAUSANIAS,  and  PLUTARCH,  regularly  coincided  with 
the  third  year  of  each  Olympiad.  This  change  was  introduced  by 
the  Amjihictyons,  for  which  I  refer  to  PETAVIUS,  SCALIGER,  and 
especially  to  the  Cycles  of  the  ingenious  DODWEL. 

•  The  Romans  were  induced  by  some  verses  of 

Their  adoption     _,  .  ,  „ 

by  the  Romans.       MARTIUS,  to  adopt  these  Games  in  the  year  of 

•  their  city  642,  and  gave  them  the  name  of  Jjwl- 
lontares.  If  you  would  overcome  the  enemy,  said  the  prediction 
of  that  soothsayer,  institute  Games  in  honour  of  Apollo.  At  first 
the  pretor  presided  in  the  representation  of  these  Games,  then 
'Quindecimvirs  were  appointed  to  take  care  of  them3  and  to  ex- 
hibit them  after  the  manner  of  the  Greeks. 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  359 

SEC.   VII.  OF  GAMES. 

3d,  The  Nemean  Games. 

"       •  '       •        The  Nemean  Games  were  instituted  by  ./ft/- 

The origin,  and  ,  . 

the  period  of  ce-    raatua  and  the   other  chiefs  who   accompanied 

Garnet      ******     him»  ?fter  the  Sad  adventure  that  befel  the  young 
"  Archemorus,  or,  as  others  call  him,  Ojiheltes  the 

son  of  Lycurgus,  whom  Hyfiaifihile,  the  daughter  of  Thoas,  nursed. 
However,  this  tradition  concerning  the  institution  of  those  Games, 
though  well  vouched  by  antiquity,  was  not  the  only  one  that  pass- 
ed current  in  Greece;  there  was  another  that  attributed  it  to  Her- 
cules,  who  founded  them  after  having  rid  the  forest  of  Nemeo.  and 
the  neighbourhood,  of  that  Lion  so  celebrated  in  fable,  whereof 
he  always  wore  the  skin.  This  is  the  opinion  of  TERTULLIAN 
who  had  got  it,  no  doubt,  from  the  Greek  authors.  Farther,  these 
Games,  though  renewed  at  stated  times,  that  is,  either  every  third 
year  according  to  some  authors,  or  every  fifth  year,  were  much 
of  the  nature  of  funeral  Games.  This  is  the  account  given  of  them 
by  STATIUS  and  ARTEMIDORUS:  "  the  crown  that  is  given  at 
Nemea,  says  the  latter,  is  one  of  those  that  are  destined  to  funeral 
combats." 

-  In  these  Games  the  same  exercises  were  per- 

The   exercises 
of  these   Games    formed  as  in  the  others,  even  those  of  vocal  and 

asTlhe  foraie^™16  instrumental  music.  We  have  an  express  pas- 
''  sage  to  this  point,  PAUSANIAS,  when  it  is  said 

that  "  Philofiemen  joining  in  the  Nemean  Games,  where  the  play- 
ers on  the  harp  disputed  the  prize  of  Music,  Plyades  of  Megalo- 
polis, one  of  the  most  skilled  in  that  art,  and  who  had  already 
won  the  prize  at  the  Pythic  Games,  began  to  sing  a  song  of 
Timotheus  of  Miletus,  intitled  the  Gates,  which  began  with  these 
words:  Hero,  to  whom  the  Greeks  owe  their  hafifiy  liberty!— pre- 
sently  all  turned  their  eyes  upon  Philofiemen,  and  with  one  voice 
cried  out,  that  nothing  could  be  more  applicable  to  that  great 
man." 


360  SUPERSTITIONS  OF    IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  HI. 

OF    GAMES.  SEC.  VII. 

The  reward  of  the  conquerors  in  the  Nemean 
The  reward  of 
th&     conquerors    Games,  was  a  crown  of  green  fiar&ly,  in  memory 

'  .    ,    of  the  adventure  of  the  young  Archemorus,  whom 

his  nurse  had  iaid  down  upon  some  sprigs  of  that  plant,  when 
she  left  him,  to  guide  the  leaders  of  the  Argive  army;  and  their 
celebration  served  for  an  ara  to  the  Argives,  and  the  inhabitants 
of  that  part  of  Arcadia,  which  lay  next  to  the  forest  of  Nemca. 

4th,  The  Isthmic  Games. 

•'  Athamas  king  of  the  Orchomeniansj  a  peo- 

these^Games"  °  P^e  °^  Beotia,  having  divorced  his  former  wife, 
r.  named  Ne/ihele,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons, 

Phryxua  and  Helle,  and  having  married  Ino  by  whom  he  had  also 
two  sons,  Learchus  and  Melicerta;  the  latter  persecuted  the  chil- 
dren of  the  former  marriage,  so  far  as  to  make  her  husband  be- 
lieve, that  the  Oracle  of  Delphos  demanded  the  blood  of  Phryxus, 
as  ihe  means  of  putting  a  stop  to  the  famine,  whereof  she  herself 
was  the  cause;  and  the  too  credulous  Athamat  was  upon  the  point 
of  sacrificing  his  son  to  the  safety  of  his  subjects;  but  upon  de- 
tecting his  wife's  duplicity,  he  slew  her  son  Learchus,  and  pur- 
sued her  so  eagerly  that  she  was  forced  to  throw  herself  down 
Avith  Melicerta,  whom  she  held  in  her  arms,  from  the  top  of  the 
rock  Moluria,  into  the  sea.  A  dolphin,  we  arc  told,  or  rather  the 
•waves,  carried  Melicerta  upon  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth,  and  the 
Corinthians,  at  the  persuasion  of  Sisyphus,  the  brother  of  Athamas, 
gave  him  a  splendid  funeral,  and  instituted  to  his  honour,  Games 
which  got  the  name  of  Isthmic,  from  the  place  where  they  were 
celebrated  the  first  time. 

-•;•.'  These  Games,   wherein  were   exhibited  the 

skill,  and  the  re-  same  trials  of  skill  as  in  the  others,  and  chiefly 
ward  to  the  vie-  tj-jOSe  of  niusic  and  poetry,  having  been  intcr- 
i1  '  "  rupted,  probably  by  some  wars,  were  afterwards 
re-established  by  Theseus,  who  consecrated  them  to  JVeptunc, 
whose  son  he  pretended  to  be,  as  to  the  God  who  peculiarly  pre- 


CHAP   III,     '         SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  361 

SEC.  VII.  OF   GAMES. 

sided  over  the  Isthmus  of  .Corinth;  and  they  were  renewed  so  re- 
gularly e\ery  Jive  'years,  about  the  middle  of  the  month  Htca- 
tombion,  that  they  were  not  even  discontinued  after  the  city  of 
Corinth  had  been  destroyed  and  reduced  to  ashes  by  Mumniitis — 
the  Sicyonians  having  received  orders  to  celebrate  them,  notwith- 
standing the  public  grief  and  desolation.  When  the  city  was  af- 
terwards rebuilt,  the  new  inhabitants  resumed  the  care  of  these 
Games,  and  continued  to  exhibit  them  with  great  regularity. 
Some  time  after,  the  Romans  were  admitted  to  them,  and  cele- 
brated them  with  so  much  pomp  and  apparatus,  that  besides  the 
ordinary  exercises,  a  hunting  match  was  there  exhibited;  wherein 
were  presented  the  most  rare  animals;  the  city  of  Corinth  neg- 
lected no  means  whereby  to  please  the  conquerors  in  these 
games:  and  what  still  increased  their  fame  is,  that  they  served  for 
an  xra  to  the  Corinthians  and  inhabitants  of  the  Isthmus.  A 
crown  of  pine  leaves  was  the  reward  of  those  who  gained  the  vic- 
tory in  those  Games. 

5th)  The  Scenic  Games. 

_  We  have  seen  that  amongthe  Scenic  exercises 

of  these  Games,     are  ranked,  the  trials  of  the  skill  of  the  tragic 

wCTe°dedicTtedey  fioets>  and  th°Se  °f  the  musicians  or  singers  and 
•  players  on  instruments,  who  disputed  the  prize 

there,  whence  the  Scenic  Games  derived  their  name.  Nothing  equal- 
led the  excessive  fondness  the  Greeks  had  for  these  shows,  but 
the  ardour  of  those  who  were  to  exhibit  them,  in  making  prepa- 
rations for  them.  The  Scenic  Games  were  consecrated  to  Bacchus, 
Afiollo^  Venus,  and  Minerva,  and  never  begun  till  the  ordinary  sa- 
crifices had  first  been  offered  to  the  Gods.  The  autumn,  the  time 
of  vintage,  was  the  season  made  choice  of  especially  for  the  re- 
presentation of  tragedies,  because  those  shows  were  especially 
consecrated  to  Bacchus.  The  tragic  poets,  who  were  willing  to 
dispute  the  prizes  there,  were  obliged  to  prepare  four  pieces, 
three  tragedies,  and  one  satire;  this  is  what  was  called  Tetralogia. 


362  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  '    CHAP.  HI. 

OF  GAMES.  '  SEC.  VII. 

It  was  requisite  that  those  pieces  which  were  hardly  represented 
but  upon  such  occasions,  though  they  sometimes  happened  to  be 
resumed,  should  have  some  connexion  with  one  another;  but  the 
satire  was  only  a  farce,  as  appears  from  the  Cyclop  of  EURIPIDES; 
the  only  piece  of  that  kind  we  have  now  extant.  It  is  easy  to 
judge  that  those  satires  were  extremely  free,  and  all  full  of  buf- 
foonery, and  consequently  merely  designed  to  entertain  the  peo- 
ple, and  to  gain  their  applause.  It  is  surprising  that  the  first 
geniuses  of  the  Athenians  should  have  submitted  to  degrade  the 
buskin  to  so  mean  and*  ludicrous  a  piece  of  comic  humour.  In 
those  trials  of  skill,  the  voice  was  accompanied  with  some  instru- 
ment, especially  with  the  harp;  but  I  believe  they  sometimes  dis- 
puted with  the  voice  alone  without  any  instrument;  as  they  did 
with  instruments  without  the  voice.  YiTRUvius^bserves,  that 
one  of  the  Ptolemies  consecrated  to  ^/tollo  this  sort  of  trial,  pro- 
bably at  the  time  of  i:s  admission  into  Egypt;  but  from  the  ear- 
liest times  we  can  trace,  for  the  origin  thereof  is  not  known,  the 
Greeks  had  dedicated  it  to  the  Gods  just  named.  I  say  from  the 
earliest  times,  for  we  learn  from  PAUSANIAS  and'HyoiNUS,  that 
this  sort  of  combat  was  exhibited  in  the  Games  which  dcastus 
instituted  in  honour  of  his  father  Pelias,  after  the  return  of  the 
Argonauts.  I  have  already  shown  that  Linus,  Thamyris,  and  some 
others,  had  been  conquerors  there,  in  that  heroic  age. 

1         At  the  end  of  the  representations,  the  votes, 
The  conqueror 

received  the  title  which  were  exactly  collected  during  the  per- 
of  Poet  Laurent.  formance}  were  mimbered,  and  he  who  had  the 
most  votes  was  publicly  crowned.  The  poet  on  whom  this  honour 
was  conferred,  took  the  title  of  Poet  Laurent,  because  the  crown 
he  received  was  of  laurel.  His  reward,  frivolous  as  it  may  appear 
to  mercenary  souls,  was  the  boundary  of  those  great  men's  ambi- 
tion, and  procured  them  the  most  flattering  distinctions.  As  to 
what  remains  of  it,  the  practice  of  crowning  poets  has  lasted  a 
long  time^  especially  in  Italy.  The  poets  and  musicians  showed  a 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIO:N7S  OF   IDOLATRY.  563 

SEC.  VII.  OF  GAMES. 

great  zeal  for  these  Games,  and  frequently  came  from  a  very 
great  distance,  to  the  places  where  they  were  celebrated;  so 
much  were  they  charmed  at  that  time  with  the  glory  of  victory. 
This  sort  of  trial,  in  short,  must  have  been  very  amusing  to  those 
who  were  witnesses  of  it. 

'  As  to  these  Games  wherein  were  proposed 

The  scenic  ex- 
ercises were  intro-    prizes  of  poetry  and  music,  the  one  not   going 

Games^Ss     witllout   the  other'  there   were   of  them  amonS 
those      properly    the  Greeks  in  the  earliest  periods  of  time,  and 
'  those  not  a  few.  These  trials  of  skill  were  admit- 

ted in  the  great  Games,  that  is,  in  the  Pythian,  Nemean,  and  Isth- 
mian; as  for  the  Olympic  Games,  there  is  some  doubt,  at  least 
with  respect  to  the  heroic  age.  For  SUETONIUS,  from  whom  we 
learn  that  Nero  disputed  therein  the  prize  of  music,  adds  that  this 
was  a  thing  new  and  unusual. — However  it  may  have  been  as  to 
these  combats  in  the  Olympic  Games,  it  is  certain  that  they  were 
common  in  the  other  three  I  have  named,  especially  in  ihePythic 
Games,  whereof  they  made  the  first  and  most  considerable  part. 
But  it  was  not  only  in  the  great  Games  of  Greece,  that  those 
prizes  oi ' fioetry  and  music  were  proposed;  they  \\ere  admitted  in 
several  cities  of  Greece. 

•  ROMAN  GAMES.* 

1st,  The  Trojan  Games,  or  Games  of  the  Youth. 
=====        This  Game  or  exercise,  \\hich  JEncas  insti- 

The  founder  of  d  ^  thg  -fur   ral  Games  of  his  father,  was 

these     Games, — 

their    patrons;—     for  the  youth,  who,  being  di\  ided  into  two  bands, 
Virgil's    account 
of  them.  showed  therein  both  their  valour  and  address. 

These  Games   having  suffered  some  interrup- 


*  I  should  never  have  done  were  I  to  speak  at  any  length  of  all  the 
Roman  Games,  since  there  were  no  considerable  cities  in  the  Roman  em- 
pire, but  valued  themselves  upon  the  celebration  <5f  some  Games  or  other, 
either  upon  the  arrival  of  the  magistrates  who  were  to  govern  them,  or 


364  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF  GAMES.  SEC.  VII. 

lion,  when  dscanius  afterwards  built  the  only  city  Alba  Loriga, 
he  brought  them  again  into  repute,  and  taught  that  military  di- 
version to  the  ancient  Latins.  The  Albans  having  received  it 
from  him,  transmitted  it  down  to  their  posterity.  Rome,  in  ho- 
nour of  the  memory  of  its  founders,  resumed  the  use  of  that  an- 
cient carousal,  and  represented  it  in  the  Circus.  Sylla,  as  we  read 
in  PLUTARCH,  exhibited  this  show;  but  civil  wars  interrupted  the 
performance  thereof  until  Caesar  restored  it.  From  that  time,  the 
representations  thereof  were  pretty  frequent,  since  the  same  au- 
thor informs  us,  that  Tiberius,  Caligula,  Claudius,  and  Nero,  ex- 
hibited it  to  the  Roman  people;  but  none  of  the  emperors  did  it 
either  with  so  much  pomp,  or  so  often  as  Augustus,  who  gave  a 
representation  of  it  for  the  first  time  after  the  victory  at  Actium, 
in  the  year  of  Rome  726.  This  prince  chose  for  the  purpose  two 
companies  from  among  the  Roman  youth,  one  young,  and  the 
other  of  a  more  advanced  age;  being  persuaded  that  this  exercise 
would  give  the  youth  of  quality  an  opportunity  of  forming  them- 
selves, and  of  showing  their  address.  The  body  of  youths  that 
was  prepared  for  this  exercise,  was  still  called,  in  the  time  of 
VIRGIL,  the  Trojan  band. — To  give  a  just  idea  of  the  order  of 


upon  occasion  of  victories  and  other  advantages  gained  by  the  common- 
wealth. The  magistrates  also  took  care  to  exhibit  Games  at  their  own  ex- 
pense,  when  they  entered  on  their  office;  and  though  of  all  offices,  that  of 
the  Edileship  was  the  least  considerable,  it  was  however  during  the  dis- 
charge of  its  functions,  that  the  greatest  expense  was  laid  out  upon  those 
Games,  because  the  people  judged  from  thence  how  those  who  were  in- 
vested with  it  were  likely  to  behave  when  they  came  to  be  advanced  to 
more  considerable  ones.  Lastly,  others  were  exhibited  at  the  birth  of 
great  men,  which  were  called  Natalitii,  and  on  a  thousand  other  occa- 
sions. However,  as  among  these  Games  some  were  very  noted,  as  most 
of  those  I  have  discoursed  upon  hitherto,  among  the  Greeks,  it  will  not 
be  amiss  to  give  a  summary  account  of  these,  proper  to  the  Romans. 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  365 

SEC.   VII.  OF  GAMES. 

these  Games,  I  cannot  do  better  than  copy  the  description  of  it 

from  VIRGIL. 

Now  call'd  the  prince,  before  the  Games  were  done, 

The  hoary  guardian  of  his  royal  son, 

And  gently  whispers  in  his  faithful  ear, 

To  bid  Ascanitis  in  his  arms  appear, 

And  w;th  his  youthful  band  and  courser  come, 

To  pa    due  honours  at  his  grandsire's  tomb. 

Next    e  commands  the  huge  assembled  train 

To  quit  the  ground,  and  leave  an  open  plain. 

Strarght  on  their  bridled  steeds,  with  grace  divine, 

The  beauteous  youths  before  their  fathers  shine. 

The  blooming  Trojans  and  Sicilians  throng, 

And  gaz'd  with  wonder  as  they  march'd  along. 

Around  their  brows  a  vivid  wreath  they  wore; 

Two  glittering  lances  tipt  with  steel  they  bore: 

These  a  light  quiver  stor'd  with  shafts  sustain, 

And  from  their  neck  depends  a  golden  chain. 

On  sprightly  steeds  advance  three  graceful  bands, 

And  each  a  little  blooming  chief  commands. 

Beneath  each  chief  twelve  sprightly  springling||came, 

In  shining  arms,  in  looks  and  age  the  same. 

Grac'd  with  his  grandsire's  name,  Polites'  son, 

Young  Priam,  leads  the  first  gay  squadron  on; 

A  youth,  whose  progeny  must  Latium  grace: 

He  press'd  a  dappled  steed  of  Thracian  race: 

Before,  white  spots  on  either  foot  appear, 

And  on  his  forehead  blaz'd,  a  silver  star. 

Atys  the  next  advanced,  with  looks  divine, 

Atys,  the  source  of  the  great  Attian  line: 

Julus'  friendship  grac'd  the  lovely  boy: 

And  last  Julus  came,  the  pride  of  Troy, 


366  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  Ill, 

OF    GAMES.  SEC.  VII. 

In  charms,  superior  to  the  blooming  train; 

And  spurr'd  his  Tyrian  courser  to  the  plain; 

Which  Dido  gave  the  princely  youth,  to  prove 

A  lasting  pledge,  memorial  of  her  love. 

Th'  inferior  boys  on  beauteous  coursers  ride, 

From  great  Acestes'  royal  stalls  supply'd. 

Now  fiush'd  with  hopes,  now  pale  with  anxious  fear, 

Before  the  shouting  crowds,  the  youths  appear; 

The  shouting  crowds  admire  their  charms,  and  trace 

Their  parents  lines  in  every  lovely  face. 

Now  round  the  ring,  before  their  fathers,  ride 

The  boys,  in  all  their  military  pride, 

'Till  Periphantes'  sounding  lash,  from  far. 

Gave  the  loud  signal  of  the  mimic  war; 

Straight,  in  three  bands  distinct,  they  break  away. 

Divide  in  order,  and  their  ranks  display: 

Swift  at  the  summons  they  return?  and  throw 

At  once  their  hostile  lances  at  the  foe; 

Then  take  a  new  excursion  on  the  plain; 

Round  within  round,  an  endless  course  maintain; 

A^l  now  advance,  and  now  retreat,  again; 

With  well-dissembled  rage  their  rivals  dare, 

And  please  the  crowd  with  images  of  war. 

Alternate  now  they  turn  their  backs  in  flight, 

Now  dart  their  lances,  and  renew  the  light; 

Then  in  a  moment  from  the  combat  cease, 

Rejoin  their  scatter' d  bands,  and  move  in  peace. 

So  winds  delusive,  in  a  thousand  ways 

Perplex'd  and  intricate,  the  Cretan  maze; 

Round  within  round,  the  blind  Mseanders  run, 

Untrac'd  and  dark,  and  end  where  they  begun. 

The  skilful  youths,  in  sport,  alternate  ply 

Their  shifting  course;  by  turns  they  fight,  and  fly: 


CHAP.  m.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  367 

SEC.  VII.  OF    GAMES. 

As  dolphins  gambol  on  the  \vat'ry  way, 
And,  bounding  o'er  the  tides,  in  wanton  circles  play. 
2tf,  The  Secular  Games. 

===c        The  Secular  Games  were  so  called  not  from 
The   origin  ot 

these  Games,  and    their  being  repeated  only  once  in  an  hundred 
their  periods.  . 

•   •     years,  as  is  commonly  believed;  but  this  name 

was  not  given  to  certain  Games  that  were  renewed  but  seldom, 
or  that  were  represented  but  once  during  any  person's  life.  Ac- 
cordingly their  original,  as  it  is  related  at  very  great  length  by 
VALERIUS  MAXIMUS,  and  ZOSIMUS,  had  no  relation  to  the  name 
which  they  were  known  by  afterwards.  Volusius  Valerius,  says  the 
former  of  those  two  authors,  having  three  Children,  two  sons  and 
a  daughter,  who  were  seized  by  the  plague  that  wasted  the  pro- 
vince where  they  lived,  and  finding  the  remedies  applied  by  phy- 
sicians ineffectual,  having  addressed  himself  to  the  genius  of  his 
Gods  Lares,  heard  a  voice  enjoining  him  to  carry  them  to  the 
banks  of  the  Tiber,  and  to  make  them  drink  of  the  water  of  the 
river.  He  at  first  scrupled  to  obey,  considering  the  distance  he 
was  from  the  river;  but  at  last  the  malady  and  the  danger  increas- 
ing, he  determined  to  set  out;  and  having  arrived  near  the  Tyber, 
at  a  place  named  Taurentum,  he  gave  them  drink,  and  they  were 
cured.  In  gratitude  to  the  Gods  for  so  singular  a  kindness,  he 
offered  sacrifices  of  black  victims  to  Plutot  Proser/iine,  and  the 
other  infernal  Divinities,  for  three  nights  successively.  Valerius 
Publicola,  continues  the  same  author,  who  was  made  consul  when 
Tarquin  was  banished,  believing  the  Romans  had  more  need 
than  ever  of  the  protection  of  the  Gods,  renewed  the  sacrifices  of 
Volusius,  in  the  year  of  Rome  245,  appointed  them  to  be  offered 
upon  the  same  altar  and  to  the  same  Gods,  and  added  Games  to 
them.  In  fine,  we  learn  from  VARRO,  whose  testimony  is  cited 
by  CENSORINUS,  that  the  Romans,  affrighted  by  several  prodigies 
that  happened  one  after  another,  consulted,  according  to  custom, 
the  books  of  the  Sibyls,  learned  that  they  were  to  renew  the  sa= 


368  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  1DOLAT11Y.  CHAP.  111. 

OF    GAMES.  SEC.  VII. 

crifices  and  the  Games  of  Volusius,  and  to  celebrate  them  for  the 
future  every  hundred  years  in  the  Camfius  Martins:  this  was  the 
origin  of  the  Secular  Games. 
======         Nothing  was  equal  to  the  solemnity  of  these 

zatTon.11'  S°lemni"  Games.  First,  heralds  were  despatched  through 
i  all  Italy  to  invite  every  body  to  them,  as  to  a 

solemnity  which  they  would  never  see  again;  and  when  the  time 
of  their  celebration  approached,  the  Consuls,  Decemvirs,  and  at 
last  the  Emperors  themselves  went  into  different  temples  to  offer 
sacrifices,  and  ordered  a  distribution  to  be  made  to  the  people  of 
such  things  as  were  necessary,  that  every  one  might  set  about  the 
expiating  of  his  sins;  such  as  torches,  suljihur,  and  bitumen,  in 
which  none  were  excepted  but  the  slaves.  The  people  thus  fur- 
nished with  materials  for  expiation,  flocked  to  the  temple  of 
Diana,  which  was  upon  the  Aventine  mount,  and  every  one  gave 
his  children  barley,  corn,  and  beans,  to  offer  the  whole  in  sacri- 
fice to  the  Destinies  in  order  to  appease  them.  Then  upon  the  ar- 
rival of  the  first  festival  which  was  consecrated  to  Juno,  three 
days  and  three  nights  were  employed  in  offering  victims  to  Juno, 
Jufiiter,  Neptune,  Vulcan,  Mars,  Diana,  Vesta,  Venus,  Hercules, 
Saturn,  to  Divinities  of  the  fountains,  and  lastly  to  the  Parca,  to 
Proserpine,  and  to  Pluto;  and  all  this  at  Tarentum,  a  place  not 
far  from  the  Campus  Martins,  where  the  Games  were  to  be  per- 
formed.— On  the  first  night,  at  the  second  hour,  the  consuls  in 
the  time  of  the  republic,  and  afterwards  the  Emperors  themselves, 
accompanied  by  the  Decemvirs  who  presided  at  this  solemnity, 
went  to  the  banks  of  the  Tyber,  where  they  raised  three  altars, 
on  which  they  sacrificed  three  lambs;  and  after  sprinkling  the 
altars  with  the  blood  of  those  victims,  they  ordered  the  rest  of 
them  to  be  burnt.  This  ceremony  was  illuminated  by  a  great 
number  of  lamps,  and  accompanied  with  singing  several  hymns 
in  honour  of  the  Gods,  and  terminated  by  the  offering  of  several 
black  victims,  such  as  Volusius  and  Publicola  had  formerly  offer- 


CHAP.  HI  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  IDOLATRY.  369 

SEC.  VII.  OF    GAMES. 

ed. — While  they  were  employed  in  these  religious  functions? 
artists  erected  a  Theatre,  and  prepared  the  place  where  the  exer- 
cises common  to  the  Games  were  to  be  performed;  then  the 
next  day  in  the  morning  they  went  to  the  capital,  where  offering 
a  sacrifice  to  Jupiter,  they  returned  to  the  place  just  mentioned, 
and  began  the  celebration  of  the  Games  in  honour  tf.  Apollo  and 
Diana,  The  next  clay  the  Roman  Ladies  repaired  to  the  same 
capitol  to  sacrifice  to  Juno:  lastly  the  Emperor  himself,  accom- 
panied by  the  Decemvirs,  went  the  same  day  and  offered  to  each 

of  the  aforesaid  Divinities  the  victims  proper  to  them On  the 

third  day,  seven  and  twenty  youths  of  the  first  families,  all  in 
robes,  and  as  many  virgins,  marched  in  procession  to  the  Palatine 
mount  to  the  temple  of  Apollo,  where  they  vied  with  one  another 
in  singing  hymns  and  songs,  to  make  the  Gods  propitious  to  the 
Emperor,  the  Senate,  and  the  Roman  people.  Lastly,  during  the 
three  nights  that  the  solemnity  of  these  Games  continued,  all  the 
Theatres  in  Rome,  the  Circuses,  and  other  public  places  destined 
for  these  festivals,  were  employed  in  shows  that  were  therein  ex- 
hibited. Among  other  things,  there  were  also  hunting  matches, 
combats  with  wild  beasts,  imitation  of  sea-fights,  &c.:  the  people 
dividing  the  whole  time  between  mirth  and  devotion. 
M,  The  Games  of  Ceres. 
Though'  the  Greeks  celebrated  the  greater 
and  lesser  mysteries  in  honour  of  Ceres,  yet  no 
Games  or  shows  were  therein  represented;  thus, 
those  I  speak  of  here,  owe  their  origin  to  the  Romans,  and  ac- 
cording to  Tacitus,  it  was  C.  Mummius  while  he  was  Edile,  gave 
the  first  representation  of  them  in  the  Circus.  But  he  was  not 
their  founder,  since  we  learn  from  TITUS  LIVIUS,  that  long  before 
him,  even  from  the  second  year  of  the  Punic  war,  under  the  di- 
rectorship of  Servilius  Geminus,  they  had  been  exhibited.  The 
celebration  of  these  Games,  which  lasted  eight  days,  commenced 
on  the  twelfth  of  April. 


3fO  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  III. 

OF  GAMES.  SEC.  VII, 

•  As  in  those  Games  the  mourning  of  Ceres  for 

Their  solemni- 
zation, the  rape  of  her  daughter  was  commemorated, 

-  as  well  as  in  the  Elusinian  mysteries,  the  Roman 
ladies  appeared  there  in  white  robes,  with  lighted  torches  in  their 
hands,  to  represent  that  Goddess  seeking  for  her  dear  Proserpine; 
the  men  too  who  joined  in  them,  came  thither  fasting;  for  the 
strictest  abstinence  was  enjoined  for  the  preceding  night,  especi- 
ally from  women  and  wine,  which  was  most  punctually  observed: 
moreover  the  smallest  blemish  excluded  the  spectators  from 
them,  and  the  public  herald  took  care  to  warn  all  who.  might  pro- 
fane them,  to  quit  the  assembly.  If  any  one  was  convicted  of  hav- 
ing stained  his  purity,  he  was  punished  with  no  less  than  death. 
This  is  confirmed  by  the  unanimous  testimony  of  all  the  histo- 
rians who  have  spoken  of  the  celebration  of  these  Games.  As  to 
what  remains  the  same  shows  were  exhibited  there  as  in  the 
other  Games,  especially  that  of  the  horse-race.  I  believe  they 
were  celebrated  every  fifth  year;  at  least  it  was  after  such  an  in- 
terval that  the  Sibylline  oracles  ordained  a  day  of  fasting  by  way 
of  preparation  for  them,  to  which  was  added  the  use  of  the  warm 
bath,  as  very  conducive  to  continency  and  purity,  with  which  they 
were  obliged  to  come  up  to  the  solemnity. 

4£/;,  The  Games  of  Cybele,  and  those  of  the  other  great  Gods. 

f  These  Games,  instituted  by  the  Greeks,  and 

celebration'ofthe  adopted  by  the  Romans,  went  by  the  name  of 
Games  of  Cybele.  Great  Games,  or  Megalmse.^  from  the  Goddess 
in  whose  honour  they  were  celebrated,  and  who 
was  called  the  Great  Mother.  CICERO,  who  informs  us  that  a 
great  concourse  of  people  and  strangers  frequented  these  Games, 
adds,  that  they  were  exhibited  upon  the  Palatine  mount,  near  the 
temple,  in  order  to  be  represented  iw  the  very  presence  of  the 
Goddess.  Their  celebration  fell  on  the  day  before  the  Ides  of 
April,  on  which  the  Romans  had  received  her  worship. 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OP   IDOLATRY.  3?1 


OF  GAMES. 


1  Some  authors  have  confounded  these  Games 

Those    of   the  .  - 

Great  Gods— dit-    Wlt^  those  °*  lne  other  Great  Gods,  who  had  the 

former  fl°m  ^  SUm°  nanie;  but  CICERO  plainly  distinguishes 
--  them.  The  last  had  been  instituted  by  Tarquin 

the  elder;  the  others  not  till  the  Romans  brought  from  Pessinus 
the  worship  of  Cybde>  in  the  year  of  Rome  543,  under  the  con* 
sulship  of  Cornelius  Cethegus,  and  Cornelius  Tuditanus.  The 
day  of  their  celebration  was  likewise  different,  since  those  of  Cy- 
bele  fell  on  the  day  before  the  Ides  of  April,  as  has  been  said  from 
TITUS  LIVIUS,  and  those  of  the  Great  Gods,  on  the  day  before 
the  calends  of  September,  as  we  learn  from  CICERO. 

5th)  The  Games  of  Castor  and  Pollux. 
••'  '    '  The  Romans,  who  conferred  upon  these  two 

celebration"  f  heroes  a  particular  worship,  as  has  been  said  in 
their  history,  instituted  these  Games  in  the  wars 
they  had  with  the  Latins,  who  had  abandoned 
the  Romans,  and  joined  the  Tarquins.  It  was  the  dictator  Aulus 
Posthumius  who  made  a  solemn  vow  to  exhibit  those  Games  in 
honour  of  those  heroes,  if  he  was  successful  in  that  expeditionj 
and  the  Senate,  in  consummation  of  Aulus  Posthumus's  vow,  pass- 
ed an  act  for  the  continuation  of  those  Games  every  year.  Nothing 
exceeded  the  magnificent  pomp  with  which  they  were  ushered 
in  and  accompanied,  as  we  learn  from  DIONYSJUS  of  Halicarnas- 
sus.  After  the  ordinary  sacrifices,  says  he,  such  as  presided  over 
the  Games,  set  out  from  the  capitol  to  march  in  order  through 
the  Forum  to  the  Circus,  where  this  show  was  exhibited:  they 
were  preceded  by  their  children,  on  horseback,  when  they  them- 
selves were  of  the  Equestrian  order,  while  the  plebeians  marched 
on  foot.  The  former,  composed  so  mnay  troops;  and  the  latter, 
companies  of  foot  soldiers,  who  came  in  crowds  to  this  spectacle, 
and  who  were  received  on  the  occasion  with  all  possible  regard: 
so  that  strangers  might  see  the  resource  which  Rome  had  in  that 
illustrious  body  of  youth,  who  were  ready  to  appear  soon  in  the 


372  SUPERSTITIONS  OF   IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  HI. 

OF    GAMES.  SEC.  VII. 

midst  of  her  armies.  This  procession,  followed  with  chariots, 
some  drawn  by  two,  some  by  four  horses,  and  with  the  other 
knights  who  were  to  run  in  the  Circus,  was  closed  by  the  ath- 
letes, who  were  also  to  fight  there. 

6f/2,  The  Circensian  Games. 

i    '     "  Though  by  the  Circensian  Games  we  are  to 

These  were  of          , 
Greek  origin    a-    understand  only  the    combats,   the   races,   ana 

dopted  by  Romu-  other  exercises  that  were  performed  in  the 
lus. 

•     places  known  by  the  name  of  Circus,  which  had 

been  raised  for  the  representation  of  all  sorts  of  Games,  yet  the 
antiquaries  comprehended  under  that  name,  the  race  which  was 
instituted  in  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth,  by  (Enomaus  king  of  Pisa, 
to  rid  himself  of  those  who  were  courting  his  daughter  Hifljio- 
damia,  and  wherein  Pelo/is  was  conqueror;  or  that  other  race 
which  Hercules  instituted  in  Elis,  wherein  he,  having  gained  the 
victory,  received  a  crown  of  olive  from  the  hand  of  the  same  Pe- 
lofis: — Romulus,  after  the  rape  of  the  Sabine  women,  appointed 
.  the  same  Games  to  be  celebrated  in  the  open  fields,  for  there 
was  no  place  then  destined  for  that  purpose.  These  first  Games 
of  the  Romans  went  by  the  name  of  Consualia;  and  if  VIR.GIL 
gives  the  name  of  Circensian  Games  to  those  which  Romulus  ex- 
hibited on  the  occasion  now  mentioned,  it  is  by  way  of  anticipa- 
tion; for  it  was  only  in  the  time  of  Tarquinius  the  elder  that  the 
first  Circus  was  built.  These  Games  were  also  called  by  the 
name  of  the  great  Games,  Ludi  magni. 

7th,  The  Cafiitoline  Games. 

•    -  These  Games  were  founded  by  the  Romans, 

On  what  occa-  ,•  rr>  T  i_      i      i_     /~i     i 

sion    founded;—    accoi'diiig  to  TITUS  LIVIUS,  to  thank  the  Gods 

their  exercises.  for  havillg  saved  the  capitol,  when  the  Gauls 
plundered  Rome;  and  to  add  tS  their  magnifi- 
cence, and  at  the  same  time  that  they  may  be  renewed  at  stated 
times,  a  new  college  of  priests  was  instituted.  In  these  Games 
three  sorts  of  exercises  were  commonly  exhibited,  the  horse 


CHAP.  III.  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  373 

SEC.  VII.  OF    GAMES. 

race,  the  Gymnasia)  and  the  trial  in  vocal  and  instrumental  mu- 
sic; that  is,  all  those  which  composed  the  Pentat/ilum. 
8(/i,  The  Games  celebrated  in  the  Camps. 

•  These  Games  did  not  require  so  much  cere- 
These  were  in- 
stituted for   the    mony  and  apparatus  as  the  others;  they  were  ce- 

dSJsh0ftheS01"    Iebrated  b7   the    soldiers  themselves   in    their 

•  camps,  either  for  their  exercise  or  recreation. 
And  indeed  nothing  was  more  proper  to  keep  them  in  cheerful 
preparation,  than  those  sorts  of  combats,  among  which  besides 
wrestling,  running,  and  other  trials  of  skill,  they  it  seems  fought 
with  the  fiercest  animals;  this  is  what  we  learn  from  a  passage  of 
SUETONIUS,  who  says  that  Tiberius,  to  show  he  enjoyed  a  perfect 
state  of  health,  for  there  was  a  surmise  to  the  contrary,  not  only 
was  present  at  these  Games,  but  himself  attacked  a  bear  with  his 
arrows. 

9///,  Some  other  Games. 

======         We  will  conclude  this  subject  with  a  summa- 

Conclusion. 

.  ry  of  some  other  Games  of  the  Romans,  whose 

names  at  least,  ought  to  be  mentioned. — 1st,  The  Games  called 
Decumani,  were  such  as  they  represented  every  tenth  year,  and 
which  the  Senate  had   instituted   in  honour  of  Augustus,  who 
every   tenth  year,   proposed    to  quit  the  reins   of  government, 
which  he  took  good  care  however,  never  to  perform. — 2d,  the 
Games  of  the  Leaves^  were  so  called  either  from  the  leaves  that 
the  crowns  were  made  of,  or  because  the  people  threw  leaves 
upon  the  conqueror. —  3d,  The  Lustral,  Lustrales,  or  Rubigalia, 
had  been  instituted  in  honour  of  Mars,  and  it  was  during  their 
celebration  that  the  arms,  the  trumpets,  8cc,  were  purified — 4th, 
The  Games  named  Novendiles,  were  the  same  with  those  funeral 
Games  we  have  discoursed  of,  and  which  were  exhibited  at  the 
death  of  great  men,  "or  of  the  Emperors. — 5th,  The  Palatine 
Games,  Palatini,  were  instituted  by  Augustus  in  honour  of  Julius 
3A 


374  SUPERSTITIONS  OF  IDOLATRY.  CHAP.  Ill 

OF  GAMES.  SEC.  VII. 

Ctesar,  and  got  that  name,  from  the  temple  which  was  upon  the 
Palatine  mount,  where  they  were  celebrated  every  year  for  eight 
days,  beginning  with  the  25th  of  December. — 6th,  Those  of  the 
fishes,  called  Piscatorii,  were  renewed  every  year  in  the  month 
of  June,  by  the  pretor  of  the  city,  in  honour  of  such  of  the  fish- 
eries upon  the  Tyber,  whose  gain  was  carried  into  the  temple  of 
Vulcan,  as  a  tribute  paid  to  the  dead. — 7th,  The  Plebeian  Games 
were  exhibited  in  honour  of  the  people,  who  had  contributed  so 
much  to  the  extinction  of  the  regal  power. — 8th,  The  Pontificals 
were  those  exhibited  by  the  priests  at  entering  on  their  office,  in 
imitation  of  the  Questors,  whose  Games  went  by  the  name  of 
Ludi  Quxstorii. — 9th,  Romani  or  the  Roman  Games  had  been 
instituted  by  Tarquin  the  elder,  in  honour  of  Jupiter,  Juno,  and 
Minervd,as  we  learn  from  CICERO. —  10th,  The  Sacerdotal  Games 
were  those  which  the  people  in  the  provinces  obliged  the  priests 
to  present  them  with. —  llih,  The  Triumfihales,  those  that  were 
represented  upon  occasion  of  some  triumph. —  12th,  The  Votivi 
were  exhibited  in  consequence  of  some  vow;  and  those  were 
either  public,  when  it  was  a  public  vow,  as  was  the  case  either  in 
public  calamities,  or  in  the  heat  of  a  battle,  or  on  other  momen- 
tous occasions;  or  private,  when  some  private  person  gave  a  re- 
presentation of  them.  The  former  were  given  by  the  magistrates 
in  consequence  of  an  act  of  the  Senate:  We  have  an  inscription 
that  makes  mention  of  one  of  these  votive  and  public  Games,  for 
the  happy  return  of  Augustus. —  13th,  Ludi  Sigillares,  were  so 
called  on  account  of  the  little  figures,  either  of  silver  or  some 
other  metal,  which  they  sent  to  one  another  in  token  of  friend- 
ship, and  that  commonly  during  the  Saturnalia. —  \^\.\\,Ludi  Tau- 
rii  were  instituted  to  the  honour  of  the  Infernal  Gods,  on  account 
of  a  plague  under  the  reign  of  Tarquin  the  proud,  which  plague 
arose  from  the  exposing  of  bulls  flesh  to  sale. 

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